Hypnotized
by Digidestined Dude 15
Summary: Aichi's life is shattered. Everyone hates him. His classmates are tormenting him even worse than ever before. He can't even look Kai in the face. All because of one party. One hypnotist. One command that brought Aichi's world crumbling down, along with his spirit. Kaichi.
1. Chapter 1: Aichi Sendou

Hey everyone! It's Digi here! Guess what? It's my birthday today! February 6th! As of today, I'm a single, 20-year-old fanfiction writer that still lives with his parents and has enough pent up rage to destroy the life of one of the cutest and most lovable anime boys in history. (Sorry Aichi-chan!)

This was actually inspired by my safe-grad party a few years ago. We had a hypnotist show up and he did his work on a bunch of students, and made them do what Aichi-chan is about to do, which, as a result will destroy his life and his spirit… Aren't I just a nice guy?

This story will take place in the perspectives of a bunch of people, most notably Aichi-chan and Toshiki. Not sure how many chapters this will be, it may only be two, but maybe even three or four or more! Lets find out! I wanted to get this started on my birthday, so it may not be very good, but I'll rewrite it if need be!

On with the Aichi-chan torture!

First perspective: Aichi Sendou

-x~X~x-

 _"Hey, look, it's Flogay!_ "

I thought that night would be a fun night for everyone. Misaki _would_ get a break from her life being completely surrounded by Vanguard. Kamui would get to hang out with the older kids. Izaki would get a break from Morikawa's endless torrent of taunting. Best of all, Kai would… get to hang out with me, as a friend and maybe something more…

 _"How's it going, Flogay? Check out any guys lately?"_

God, I feel so stupid. How could I think Kai would ever want to be near me unless I have my deck on a table in front of me? All I am to him is an opponent. Not a friend, not a teammate, not a… something more…

" _What a freakin' pansy he is. He probably thinks he's still normal, too. How disgusting."_

I can't face him anymore, not any of them. I'm too embarrassed, too terrified about what they'll think of me… especially Kai… The teasing and taunting at school, that's somewhat tolerable. People are just using me as an outlet for their own insecurity. I'm certain a few of them are just like me, and if they feel better using me then I have no problem with that… But I could never take hearing Kai say those words...

" _He should just go jump off a cliff and die. Do us all a favour."_

I blame that stupid hypnotist, and the stupid school party. He made me realize just how much the world hates me, how much my friends hate me… and how much Kai hates me…

-x~X~x-

A/N: The nickname "Flogay" is a pun on the Vanguard card "Flogal," a Royal Paladin card used by Aichi, and, of course, "Gay."


	2. Chapter 2: Yuta Izaki

I really hate myself for being so cruel to him… but Aichi-chan is too cute not to mess with! I'm just like Ori when it comes to Takato: we both have an adorable uke boy we love to torture! Haha!

Next in the line-up, a character who deserves a lot more screen time than he's gotten: Yuta Izaki!

-x~X~x-

"So, how's it going?"

Aichi sighed, leaning back against the wall we were sitting against. "Well, the guys in PE forced me to change in the stall and wouldn't let me out until everyone else was ready," he said, his voice rich in annoyance. "They were all afraid I was gonna check them out while they weren't looking. I'll give you one guess who started it."

My eyebrow twitched. There was only person that came to mind, and he made my blood boil more than anything. My teeth clenched as I took my one guess, but it was more assurance than anything. "Morikawa?" I asked.

Aichi nodded. "Yep…"

Ever since that stupid party, no one at school will even go near Aichi, other than to try and make fun of him, usually calling him Flogay or something like that. As a result, he usually has to eat his lunch on the roof, and I'm the only one with enough decency that bothers to join him.

Of course, another reason for that is because we both share the same burden…

"The teasing wouldn't be nearly as bad if Morikawa didn't go out of his way to make my life miserable," Aichi said, taking a bite of his onigiri. "He even cut like two inches off the bottoms of my shorts off when I wasn't looking. I might as well have been wearing the girls' version." A small streak of pink stretches across his face, whereas my face is growing red with anger.

Out of every bully in this whole school, Morikawa is the biggest ass of them all. He's a major reason why Aichi's life is a living hell right now. He goes right out of his way to make Aichi miserable. If it's not pansting him in the hallway, he's supergluing Aichi's butt to a chair. He just won't stop until Aichi cries…

I don't know who I hate more right now: Morikawa, or the idiot that still loves him…

But that's just the thing: Aichi doesn't cry, at least not when Morikawa and the others torture him. He just puts up with it. He doesn't wine or anything like I've seen him before. He's strong enough not to let the others get to him over this. The only time he's cried throughout this ordeal is at the party, after that hypnotist helped screw up his life, and that's only because Kai was there. Kai's reaction was what made him cry...

That's one of the reasons I respect him so much, in all honesty. He can take the whole school hating him, and not breakdown. I know that if I were him, I'd be locking myself in my room and cry myself to death…

Aichi tried to fake a smile and wave it off. "Never mind me. I know it's hard hearing about anything that has to do Morikawa, so just ignore me."

Aichi is the only one that knows I'm gay, much less that I love that asshat, Morikawa. When I found him at the party, after everyone laughed him off the stage and drove him into hiding in the janitor's closet, I thought I'd let him know that he wasn't alone. I told him everything; my sexuality, my feelings for Morikawa, everything I kept bottled up to myself. We spent an hour in that closet, just talking… a lot of crying too, and not just Aichi…

I smiled at Aichi. He really is an awesome guy... I just wish everyone else at school would see that too, especially Mori- …huh?

There's some sort of black marking on Aichi's forehead, just under his overly-long bangs. It's covered enough that you can't really tell what it is, but you can see that something is there. I'm surprised I never noticed it until now.

"Aichi, what's that on your forehead?" I asked.

Aichi visibly flinches when he registers the question, and the color drains from his face. "Oh… its nothing, just marker ink from Art Class. It hit my forehead by mistake…" he said, but I didn't buy it at all. He tries to tug his bangs down further to cover whatever it is.

I reach over to lift the hair above his forehead. The second my hand touches his skin, Aichi's body goes stiff and he shuts his eyes fearfully. I lift his hair just enough to see- holy shit…

…Whatever holy being is watching over us right now, I apologize for your next visitor, because when I'm through with him, Morikawa will be a _FUCKING DEADMAN!_

-x~X~x-

I'm happy I got to make this chapter a bit longer than the previous one. I was really pressed for time yesterday, because it was my birthday and I wanted to get it online by midnight that night. I'll probably go back and add to it later on.

In the meantime, lets focus on Izaki. I honestly feel like Izaki has at least some deep-buried feelings for Morikawa. I mean, come on, who would willingly spend that much time with a douchebag like Morikawa? Aichi is the exception: he's had so few friends his entire life that he'll take whoever he can get, no matter how much he annoys him. The others just try and tolerate him because he's Aichi's friend. I like to believe that everyone would have ditched him a long time ago if Aichi didn't like him. Izaki complains about him a lot, but he still follows Morikawa around of his own accord, Aichi or no Aichi.

Also, I wanted to give Aichi someone to talk to at school, and none of his other friends go there. Morikawa, even if he wasn't the douchebag homophobe, would be absolutely no help at all to Aichi. If anything, he'd say something stupid and make him cry again… Plus, with all Izaki does to put up with Morikawa, he deserved a bit more screen time! Even if it is in the fanfiction of a 20 year old yaoi lover, haha!

Well, I'm done torturing Aichi for now. See you guys next time when we find out what the black stuff is on Aichi's forehead!

This is Digi signing off!


	3. Chapter 3: Misaki Tokura

Chapter 3 Time!

Happy Valentines Day!

Who thought it would get as far as it did so far? I certainly didn't, haha! I figured it'd be a fanfic that I'd get tired of after the first chapter or two, but I've been thinking about this story all day, every day since I first brought it into words. I really hope I don't get sick of this one! I'm so in love with it right now!

This chapter will reveal more of what happened that night at the party at Aichi's school, and exactly what kind of effect it's really having on everyone. More importantly, we'll find out what happened to Aichi's forehead, and why Izaki's on a warpath to kill Morikawa.

Onto Chapter 3, told in the perspective of my favorite OTT Vanguard Fighter and the true Goddess of the Moon, Misaki Tokura!

-x~X~x-

Aichi… he hadn't been at Card Capital for two weeks, same thing with Kai. Not since before the party. Not that I can blame them anyway…

It seemed like forever since everyone in our group has been together, much less happily. We agreed to let the two of them have their space and clear their heads, but this is getting absurd, and I don't know how much more of this depressing atmosphere I can take.

"I'm back, Shin," I announced as a I walked through the shop doors. The only person in there is Kamui. I remember him vaguely mentioning that his school is getting renovated for the next few days, so he's out of class. Assisticat is sprawled out on the counter, waiting for someone to scratch his belly, but I'm really not in the mood for it.

The shop seemed so empty these last few weeks. Aichi and Kai were off on their own. I had no idea where Miwa is, but I assumed he was with Kai. I know Izaki has been trying his best to get Aichi to come back, and Emi refused to go back to Card Capital unless Aichi did as well, so I haven't seen either of them since. The only one that still came by regularly is Morikawa, and even then he only shows up, loses once or twice and then leaves.

Kamui turned around to see me as I walked in. It looked like he was working on his deck, considering there was a bunch of Nova Grappler cards all over the table he's sitting at. "Oh, hey Misaki," he said sullenly.

Kamui has been sort of depressed lately. All he ever does is look over his cards and pout, barely even talking to anyone. He obviously misses Emi, but I'm sure he misses his big brother, too. It's actually kind of sad, considering he's usually so hyperactive.

I saw Shin walk out from the back room of the shop just as I set my school bag down behind the counter. "Misaki… can we talk?" he asked. He looked somewhat hesitant, but still fairly stern.

That didn't seem like the same Shin who greeted me cheerfully as I walked through the shop doors every day. It was almost like… he was being serious.

"Um… alright," I said cautiously.

He ushered me to a table at the very back of the store. I sat down, and he sat in a seat across from me. He balled his hands into one large fist, taking a deep breath. "I think… it's time you told me exactly what happened at that party the other week."

Not again… "Shin, you know I promised everyone that I wouldn't talk about it until the issue resolved itself," I explained.

After the party, Shin noticed I was more than a little upset when I came home. He asked me what happened, but I couldn't tell him the details. I just summed it up by saying "Something bad happed to Aichi and it affects Kai." He said that he understood and that he wouldn't push for anything more, but he's hinted a few times that he wants to know more.

"And I respect that," he said. "But, Misaki, you should know that some problems won't fix themselves, and I truly believe that this is one. I mean, I haven't seen Kai, Aichi or any of your friends for weeks. Morikawa only stops by for a few games and leaves, and…" he gestured towards Kamui. "Just look at him. He's been in a full state of depression this whole time. And you… I haven't seen you smile in a long time, Misaki… I'm worried about you, all of you."

I look down at my lap. "I'm sorry, but-"

"WHERE IS THAT BASTARD!?" …Izaki?

Shin and I turned to where we heard someone shouting. Izaki had just ran through the door, dragging Aichi by the wrist.

Izaki looked… furious, seething almost. His fists were clenched tightly, breathing heavily, nostrils flaring, eyes glaring daggers in every direction in search of something. His normally calm, slightly perky demeanor was replaced with the attitude of a snarling beast.

Aichi, on the other hand, seemed as timid as always. He was out of breath and sweating all over his school uniform, so I assumed Izaki had made him run all the way here from Hitsue Middle School. Even though he was clearly tired, he still looked hesitant to be here, like he was ready to dash out the door at the first chance he got...

The two of us walk up to the front of the store to get to the bottom of Izaki's outburst. "Izaki, what's going on?" Shin asked after a minute, giving the boys a second to catch their breath.

He spotted the two of us and started glaring at Shin, as if locking his sights on him. "Where is that asshole, Morikawa?!" he asked furiously, letting go of Aichi. He walks up and grabs Shin by his shirt collar and glares into his eyes with a tenacity I never thought possible from him. "I'm gonna kill him when I get my hands on him! If you're hiding him, I swear to God, old man, I'll… I'll…"

Even with Izaki scowling at him and practically threatening to hurt him, Shin remained calm. I didn't understand why he was letting Izaki do what he was while he was hardly reacting, as if having a normal conversation…

Shin placed a hand atop Izaki's head. He gently stroked Izaki's scalp, as if petting a dog, and spoke in a calming voice, "What's wrong, Izaki? Talk to me, I can help."

Izaki… he started crying. Tears rolled down his face as his grip on Shin's shirt loosened. Shin's paternal side had touched him, soothed the anger in him… It pained me to admit it, but it touched me a little as well.

We all let Izaki cry it out for a few minutes. By the time he was done, his eyes had grown red and puffy as a result, and he was sniffling quite a bit as well. Whatever Morikawa did to upset him, it must have been overwhelmingly painful. He managed to say one thing after a while, but his sobbing made it a struggle for him just to get it out.

"W-Why would someone… Why would Morikawa… do that t-to Aichiiii…?" he asked, trying his best not to sound like he had been as traumatized by whatever happened.

"What did he do, Izaki?" I asked him. Whatever it was, he had to have been something truly detrimental because I don't think I've ever seen Izaki this upset with Morikawa. Sure, they got on each other's a lot (Morikawa doing so a lot more than the latter), but they were best friends and at the end of the day Izaki put up with it because Morikawa was his best friend.

Izaki pushed away from Shin, using his sleeve to wipe away his remaining tears. He turned to Aichi and gave him a nod, some sort of signal I assumed. He sighed and reluctantly brought a hand up to his forehead. He used his hand to lift his bangs away from his forehead, and what was there had left both me and Shin utterly shocked. I don't think anything could have prepared me for what we both saw.

Written, in what appeared to be black permanent marker, capitalized and even underlined with an exclamation point at the end, was the English word 'Fag.

I couldn't believe my eyes as Aichi lowered his bangs once more. You couldn't really tell what was there if you hadn't seen it for yourself, but you could still make it out if it was already burned in your memory, mine especially. How could Morikawa do something like this? Aichi was supposed to be his friend, he was one of the few people that actually liked him, but of course Morikawa had to go and be a complete moronic ass-hat and make Aichi's life a living hell. Morikawa had made it so that Aichi would be going to school and literally labeled that he was gay…

I think that might have been the most hurtful thing I've ever seen in my life.

"During Art class, Morikawa and a few other guys pinned me down and wrote it on me when the teacher had to step out for a minute," Aichi explained, crossing his arms uncomfortably. He didn't seem as shaken up about this whole thing as Izaki was, not even close. "I was too weak to fight back against the three of them. A few others were taking pictures and sending them to their friends. I'd say just about everyone in school has seen it by now."

Izaki grabs Aichi by the shoulders and starts shaking him violently, still letting tears fall from his eyes. "Why isn't this bothering you, Aichi?! WHY?!" he screamed. "If Morikawa… If anyone had done this to me, I'd have probably killed myself! That bastard has basically ruined your life at school and you're barely reacting to it at all! Why are you so calm!?"

Shin steps up quickly and pulls Izaki away from Aichi, just as he was about to answer.

"Ok, lets all take a deep breath," Shin said. "Aichi, did you try washing off the ink?"

"Oh, uh… yeah, but the ink won't wear off for at least a week, no matter how hard you scrub. It's a certain brand the school ordered for some of the art club's more advanced projects."

"I think there's a headband in the back room that should cover it up until the ink fades. Come with me, Aichi."

I never thought I'd see my uncle acting so calmly in such a crisis. It actually impressed me. A lot… Maybe he could be some help in this mess.

"Hey, Uncle?"

Shin looks back, just as he started guiding Aichi to the back room of the store and leaving Izaki to calm down on his own.

"When your done with him… I think we'll be ready to talk, about what happened that night at the party."

-x~X~x-

All done with this chapter! Hope to have chapter 4 up soon, and I think I'll put it in Toshi's, Morikawa's or Aichi's perspective again! See you then!

Pop Quiz: How many times did I use the word "calm" in this fanfic?! XD


	4. Chapter 4: Kamui Katsuragi

Hey everyone! Hope you're enjoying the story so far, as well as my insistent need to put Aichi through hell and back! I don't plan on stopping until Aichi either ends up with Toshiki or his spirit will be utterly broken, haha!

This particular section of the story takes place from Kamui's perspective. Honestly, I forgot he was even in the story in the last chapter, save for Misaki noticing his depressed pouting as she walked in, so I decided to give him some action. Sadly, this will not include Kamui's constant blubbering over Emi, but more on his relationship with Aichi and the root of his depression.

Let's get on with the show! Told by the battling beater and commander of the Nova Grapplers who doesn't know when to quit (or use a dictionary), Kamui Katsuragi!

-x~X~x-

I watched in silence as Shin took Aichi into the back room of the shop. I was trying to recover from the shock of seeing what that jerk did to him. My mouth moved to speak, trying to cut into the conversation between Izaki and Misaki of what kind of horrible things they were gonna do to Morikawa… but I couldn't get my mouth to make a sound.

The only good part about this whole thing is that Emi isn't here to see her brother in such a state. If she saw what Morikawa had done to Aichi's forehead, I was certain she'd be heartbroken. She truly loved her big brother, even if she did act like a second mom to him sometimes…

I gave myself a mental kick when Emi crossed my mind, trying to remind myself that she wasn't who I should be concerned with. That was what was truly tearing me up about this whole thing. I wasn't as worried so much for Aichi, at least not as much as I should be, but more what kind of effect it would have on Emi. Was I really that big of an idiot? That my best friend was going through seven different kinds of hell and what I'm most concerned with the well-being of his sister, who has practically no relevance to this problem? I felt like such a horrible person… I don't think I even have a right to call myself Aichi's friend, let alone his future-brother-in-law…

I gathered up my cards and put them away. I didn't want to be there when Aichi came out, so I needed to leave. I couldn't face Aichi, not if the only thing I could think about is Emi when Aichi is obviously suffering so much.

"Kamui, where are you going?" Misaki asked as I passed by her.

"Oh, uh… I just remembered I have something I have to do for my mom..." I replied. I knew that sounded totally fake, but I'm just praying Misaki is too shaken up by all this chaos to notice.

Misaki nodded, but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she could see right through me. Still, she played dumb for me, and I compensated that… or was it calibrate? Applicate? Salivate? …Oh, appreciate! That was the word I was looking for!

…I needed a dictionary. Badly.

"Just be careful getting home," she said.

I shuffled past Izaki, who was muttering something about chopping off Morikawa's… I didn't hear him all that well, but I thought he said something about a tiny little… stick. Why that loser had a stick of some sort I would never know, but I got out of the store before I found out. I had a feeling I didn't wanna know the answer…

I walked out the doors of Card Capital and started walking down the streets in the direction of my house. As I walked, I started to think about all of the horrible things that have happened to Aichi these last few weeks, at least the things I knew about from Izaki. He told us about it all after he walked Aichi home and came to the shop. Like the time Morikawa threw him into the girls' washroom when he tried to use the guys'. And how everyone at school calls him Flogay or something. And especially about what he did today…

Obviously, I'm upset for Aichi. He's a really cool guy, and he's nice to everyone (when he's not under PSY Qualia), even his opponents. He really respects those that he thinks are stronger than him as well, such as Kai, Misaki, myself, or even that jerk, Ren. He takes friendship seriously. I would have bet that, even now, Aichi still considers Morikawa a friend. Even after all the things he's done to him.

Morikawa… I wondered why he put Aichi through all of this. Aichi was literally the only one that liked him… well, save for Izaki (but we all know the reason for that… Seriously, Izaki?). The guy is overly confident, a terrible deck builder, unbelievably annoying and makes it near impossible to be in the same room with him without strangling him. I honestly preferred dealing with Kai's ego than his, because at least Kai had the skills to back up his big mouth.

Kai… Why did you run away from Aichi that night? It wasn't his fault that stupid hypnotist made him say what he did. The least he could have done was say he wasn't interested, but not ten seconds after it happened he bolted from the party and no one's seen him since. I don't think I have ever seen Toshiki Kai run as fast as he did.

As I was walking, watching my feet step over the tiles in the pavement while I tried my best not to think of Emi at all, someone ran past me and knocked me to the ground. I felt a stinging in my elbow as it collided with the concrete. I was almost certain that I had scraped it, so I immediately covered it with the hem of my sleeve to catch any blood and hopefully stop the stinging. I winced when I felt it sting a little worse as I applied pressure to it, but it relieved itself fairly quickly.

I glared upwards at the idiot that knocked me down, but all I saw was none other than Kai running past me. He didn't even seem to notice that he had bulldozed past me, and that fact alone was enough to make me want to yell his ears off, but just as I took a breath to shout out his name, I felt someone swiftly lift me up from behind by my armpits and level me on the ground again. I turned around to see who it was and, of course, it was Miwa.

He grinned sheepishly as he reached into his pocket. "Sorry 'bout that, Kamui," he said to me. "Kai has one thing on his mind, and he's pretty much blind to everything and everyone else at the moment." He pulled out a bandage from his pocket and lifted the arm that got scrapped. He quickly ripped its package open and applied it to the scrap. It felt a lot better afterwards, hardly any stinging at all.

I turned back to see where Kai was going, but he was already out of sight. Normally, I had no interest in Kai's life in the slightest, but I couldn't help noticing… he was running just as quickly as he was that night at the party, when he was running out of the auditorium after Aichi snapped out of hypnosis. After what Aichi had said…

"By the way," said Miwa, "if you're mad at Morikawa… don't be."

-x~X~x-

And the plot thickens! Why is Miwa defending a douche like Morikawa? Is Miwa somehow involved in why Aichi's life is so miserable at the moment? I guess we'll have to wait for my brain to work to find out!

I'll be honest, I didn't have much inspiration to do this chapter, and I can tell that it shows. I was even considering just scrapping this chapter entirely and moving on to Kai's or Miwa's perspective, but I felt it was a good idea. I wanted to give a chapter to all the main and major supporting characters in season 1, that being Aichi, Misaki, Kamui, Kai, Izaki, and possibly Miwa, Morikawa and Emi. I might not get to do them all, but I can guarantee that Kai and Aichi are each getting another chapter!

Join me next time, where we'll finally find out the details about what happened at Aichi's school, and why Kai left in a hurry.


	5. Chapter 5: Toshiki Kai

I'm baaaaaack! And I'm bringing Aichi's backstory with me! That's right, this is the beginning of what exactly happened at the party at Hitsue Middle School and the reason Aichi has been to hell and back since it happened.

I apologize for the delay in publishing this one. Between my barking dog, my screeching nephew, and my two jobs, I've never had two seconds to breath, let alone write fanfiction. Hopefully, this chapter will make up for it! I made it a lot longer than the other chapters so far, and it has lots of Kaichi feels in this one! And for the Morikawa haters, I put a fair bit of bashing in here too, hehehe!

I've been eager to write this chapter. I'm sure some of you have probably gotten the general gist of what happened at the party, but for those of you who haven't you should find out within the next chapter or two.

Without any further delay, Chapter 5, brought to you from the Dragonic King of Kagero and too cool to care about it, Toshiki Kai!

-x~X~x-

"A party?"

Aichi nodded. "Yeah!" he said excitedly. "My school is throwing a party for all the people in our grade next Saturday, and we're allowed to bring guests with us. It's gonna have lots of music, food, drinks and games, and they're even gonna bring entertainment, including a hypnotist!" He glanced off to the side, shuffling in place uncomfortably. "Izaki and Morikawa are going, and Kamui and Misaki already said they'd come with us. And… I was wondering if you would wanna… go with me?"

Aichi asked me to come to Card Capital today because he wanted to try out a new combo with his Royal/Shadow Paladin deck. Half way through the match, he springs that question on me. Considering I'm not seeing any changes and we're both at five damage, I assumed that he only said that to get me here so he could ask me.

I wasn't interested in the slightest in going to any social gathering, especially not a loud party with a bunch of hormonal teenagers that are so much younger than me. I could barely tolerate the kids that come to Card Capital, including Kamui and that idiot Morikawa, so, to me, the idea of being with either of them in a confined space with loud, blaring music and a hundred other people sounded not only tedious and aggravating, but also a complete waste of time. Aichi should know that by now.

"Sorry, not interested," I said bluntly.

I watched his cheerful and hopeful expression fall, and dejected and crestfallen one had taken its place. "Please, Kai? I really want you to come!" he pleaded. "Th-There's gonna be a Vanguard Tournament and the winner will get a gift card for Card Capital with a lot of money on it."

"Again, not interested. If any of them were any good, they'd have come to the last shop tournament. It bores me to hell when I have to fight people who-…"

I was brought to a screeching halt when I saw the look that was spreading across Aichi's face. I would never forget the expression he gave me; his eye lids seemed to lower ever so slowly, and his mouth had parted just slightly enough to notice his bottom lip was sticking forward. He seemed to have an air of shattered hope, and I could tell, for whatever reason, that this was really important to him.

"Is my being there of any real significance to you? What makes me so different from Misaki and Kamui?"

Aichi replied with a shrug. "Well… for starters, the fact that I'm even going to this party is all thanks to you."

I raised an eyebrow at his statement, completely lost by his statement. "Come again?"

Aichi took a deep breath before he continued. "I've never been a social person at school, or at all to be honest. No one invited me to anything, I rarely talked to anyone and I had no friends for most of my life, all because I was so shy and scared." He lowered part of his hand over the Blaster Blade card that he had already called to his rear guard a few turns ago during our game. "When you gave me this card, it inspired me to build my deck and get into Vanguard, and look what that brought me as a result. I'm a national Vanguard champion. People want to talk to me. People wanna be friends with me. I'm going to a party for the first time in my life… And it all happened because of that day. Because you reached out to me and gave me a symbol of strength…"

I was shocked, in all honesty. Hearing such a sad, almost pitiful story about Aichi's life up to the point we met had actually touched me deep inside. It reminded me of my own sad childhood, but it seemed ideal compared to Aichi's. It was almost ironic. I wanted nothing to do with anyone, and yet I met two great friends in Tetsu and Ren, whereas Aichi wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by people that cared for him and he never got that, at least not until recently. Aichi was weak, and I gave him strength…

I sighed, noting the feeling that being around a crybaby like Aichi was starting to make me weak-willed. "Oh for God's sake…" I muttered. "Fine, I'll go. So long as you keep the idiots like Morikawa away from me."

Aichi gasped, his face cracking into a smile once again. "Really?" he asked hesitantly, like I was going to turn around and say no. I really wish I could have… but I wouldn't do that. Doing that would make his I couldn't explain it at the time, but I really liked seeing him smile.

"I wasn't planning on doing anything that night anyway. And a party can't possibly be that bad."

"A party? Sweet! What time should we be there?"

Aichi and I both turned to the side of the table, in the direction of the new voice, seeing Miwa standing there with that typical grin on his face. He told me that he would come by the shop later today, something about helping out his parents with something, but I assumed he had managed to finish early. I didn't bother asking him about it, mostly because I really didn't care too much. I was more focused on his wording.

"'We?'" I questioned. Aichi seemed to flinch at my question, just now picking up on Miwa's choice of words.

"Y-You want to come, Miwa?"

Miwa nodded, his grin growing wider. "Yeah. You can't expect me to believe that you want Kai to go to a party and not me. I'm the only one of the two of us that might say more than two words all night. Plus, it sounds really fun!" He clapped both of his hands together in a prayer's position. "Come on, Aichi! Can't I come? Please!"

I knew that Miwa would want to come to this thing before he had even asked. Between the two of us, it's obvious which one of us is a party animal. I was surprised he hadn't already been asked by Izaki or Morikawa.

Aichi shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, looking down at his lap. He looked like he was trying to find a way to say no. "W-Well, um… I think that… we're only allowed to bring one guest…" he said. "Misaki and Kamui are going as Morikawa and Izaki's plus-ones… and I was hoping Kai would be mine…" His eyes shot wide open just as he finished talking, and his face grew bright red. "I-I MEAN MY-MY GUEST! NOT… you know, _mine_ mine! I don't own Kai! I-I don't like him like that!"

I hadn't thought of what he accidentally implied until he had pointed it out, and it almost made me laugh. Almost. I was a lot of things to Aichi – his mentor, his role model, his friend – but I most certainly not _his_. Even though I knew this, I couldn't help feeling somewhat saddened when he said he didn't like me 'like that.'

"Aw!" Miwa whined loudly. "No fair! I really wanna go now!"

"Well, get over it," I said. "He asked me to come with him, so I'm going. Simple as that."

Miwa sighed dramatically, placing his hands on his hips. "Well, that sucks!" he exclaimed. "Since when do you wanna go to parties anyway, Kai? You normally hate stuff like that."

I didn't know how much Miwa had heard of what Aichi had just told me, and I wasn't sure if he wanted anyone else to know. It seemed like a private and sensitive subject for him. I decided to make up an excuse just in case. "Simple. Because, unlike someone I know, Aichi doesn't drag me to the mall to go clothes shopping with him every weekend."

Every Sunday afternoon, Miwa would take me with him to the mall because he, in his own words, 'loves playing dress-up' and he only trusts my opinion of how good he looks in whatever he wears. I only ever bought clothes if I needed to. He rarely bought anything either, and I don't even remember how many stores have kicked him out because of it. The only reason I went is because we always go right to Card Capital to practice right after and he refuses to play me otherwise.

Miwa pointed at himself with his thumb. "You're just jealous of my taste for fashion!"

"Says the guy in the pink sweatshirt."

Aichi choked back a laugh when Miwa's grin faltered. He instead puffed out his cheeks at me and stared me down mockingly, his hands glued to his hips. "Your mean sometimes. You know that? …and it's salmon, not pink."

Seemingly out of nowhere, Shin appeared behind Miwa and tapped him on the shoulder. Everyone turned to face him. "Don't feel too bad, Miwa. I need you to watch the shop that night anyway. I have an order I need to pick up."

Miwa scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh, right, you told me about that the other day. Sorry, I forgot about that." He shrugged his shoulders and then grabbed one of mine firmly. "You two better have a good time for me! I gotta go strangle Morikawa and Izaki for not inviting me. We were hanging out all day yesterday and neither of them even mentioned it!" He glances over to Aichi. "And Aichi? See if you can get him out of that stupid school uniform for me."

Aichi's jaw dropped at Miwa's request. His cheeks flushed brightly, and I'd be lying if I said that mine didn't try to catch up. I wondered what the hell that idiot was getting at, saying something like that to Aichi.

Miwa continued, adding some much-needed context. "I can never get him to wear anything decent. You gotta take him out to get something that's at least somewhat fashionable… You know what? I'll just come over to your place sometime this week and pick out an outfit for you, Kai. …you Aichi? You're looking a bit hot… under the collar, I mean."

Aichi struggled to articulate, obviously embarrassed beyond belief at yet another accidental implication. "I-I'm fine..." he mumbled quickly and quietly. He gathered up his cards and put them back in his deck box. "I'm g-gonna go home now… I have to help my mom with-with dinner. I-I'll give you more details about the party tomorrow. Later, guys!" He got up from the table and dashed out the door, like a mouse about to be eaten by a cat.

I glared up at Miwa, who stood there as innocently as could be. "You realize you were tormenting him like a sadist, right?"

Miwa chuckled softly, taking Aichi's seat for himself. "It _is_ pretty fun to watch him squirm, I'll admit," he said. "You've gotta admit, he's cute when he's flustered."

I stiffened quietly, feeling my eye twitch irritably as I stared at Miwa. Whenever he said something like that about Aichi, it put me in a bad mood. I wasn't homophobic, though. I could tolerate Miwa's harmless flirting with anyone else, but hearing him call Aichi 'cute' was just a tad annoying. Like, every time it happened, I almost wanted to strangle him. I couldn't figure out why, but it bothered me a lot.

"Not the first word I would use to describe him," I said bitterly, gathering my cards into a pile and putting them away. "Didn't you say you had to strangle the other idiot and his friend? Or did you just come over to piss me off and chase away my friend?"

He waved his hand at me in that 'calm down' fashion. "Relax, buddy. I'm only teasing. As cute as Aichi is…" His face relaxed into a frown as he continued. "You know there's only one guy I wanna be with…"

A few weeks after I came back to town, after rekindling our friendship (or rather, him just following me around and me tolerating it), Miwa confessed that he had feelings for me. He said that it started right before my parents died that his feelings started to develop. We never had a chance to exchange phone numbers before I left, so we lost touch after the funeral. He said that being away from him for so long had hurt him a lot. It took him months to get over me and his parents even took him to see a doctor when he started getting depressed, all because he missed me so much.

When I came back, he felt as if I had brought him out of the darkness of his world, like I was a ray of sunshine that had illuminated his dark and gloomy life (his words, of course). Not that I doubted him – the way his face was bright red, lips quivering and on the verge of tears was more than enough to convince me– but I double checked with some of our classmates that knew him from before, and they agreed that Miwa used to be a walking gloom factory before I showed up again. In total honesty, I've always felt a little bit bad about putting him through all of that.

Obviously I was a little flattered, but I turned him down. I didn't want a boyfriend (or a girlfriend) at the time, and Miwa was no exception. I tried to be civil about it, not saying anything like "I don't like you, get lost" like I normally would when someone confessed to me (it happened a few times when I was away as well, with kids from my other school). I only told him that I wasn't gay and didn't want to date him.

He seemed to take it well though. We stayed friends, and he's been fine with it up to this point. I did feel bad that he wanted more, and that I didn't want to give it to him, but if he was upset with the way things were he would have told me. Miwa never could keep his mouth shut.

After about a minute of uncomfortable silence, Miwa grinned again and continued. "It just sucks that the guy I like is a complete and utter douche." Exhibit A…

"Call me what you will, but I can't guarantee that I won't call Jun up and see if he'd like me to drop off a blonde punching bag for the underground."

Miwa immediately stiffened at the mention of Jun's name. After getting kidnapped by him that time, and being forced to watch my fights with him and Kourin up close, Miwa has developed a paralyzing fear of anything to do with the Underground and, to a greater extent, Jun. The mere mentioning of either will cause him to freeze up, and make all the color in his face to disappear. Sometimes, if I piled it on, I could get him to curl up on the floor in a ball, shivering and sobbing.

Miwa stood up from the table. Even from the other side of the table, I knew his knees were trying to resist buckling. "Well, now that I've gotten the crap scared out of me, I think I'll head off now," he said, trying to fake a smile. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy seeing him sweat and squirm as much as he did with Aichi. "I'll drop by your house after school tomorrow and to help you with your outfit. We can't have you looking like a slob, now can we?"

I grunted at him. "Whatever."

He grinned at me. "See you later, _Toshiki_!"

The little brat ran out the door before I even had a chance to yell at him. He knew full well that I hated anyone calling me by my first name. The only person who I let call me 'Toshiki' is my uncle, and that's only because he has the same last name as me and it would be weird to be calling each other 'Kai' all the time. I never really liked my name at all. I'd be perfectly fine if people called me 'Kai' the rest of my life. I've even thought about changing it, but I need to be eighteen to do that without consent, and I'm certain my uncle wouldn't be nonchalant about the matter.

I groaned in my seat, reminding myself to give Miwa a wack upside the head next time I saw him. Afterwards, I started to think about Aichi, and how sad and lonely it must have been for him when he was growing up. Even back then, on the day I gave him Blaster Blade, I could tell from the scratches and bruises on his face that he must be walking around his school with a hell of a target on his back.

I couldn't wrap my head around why, though. He seemed like such a nice kid back then, and even more so now, so I knew that he wouldn't mouth off to anyone, and he certainly couldn't have gone picking fights either. He was fairly short, so it that might have been an excuse for other people to pick on him. I couldn't even remember how often Morikawa has pointed out the difference in their height just to piss him off (though, to be fair, Kamui isn't one to take a smart-ass comment like that lying down, like Aichi would).

In any case, it was clear Aichi's school life was torture until recently. His classmates destroyed his self-confidence and self-esteem, and put him at the bottom of the food chain to rot. I wouldn't have been surprised if Morikawa had done a fair share of it up to the point he started tagging along with everyone. Maybe that was the reason I couldn't say no to his invitation. Maybe I just felt bad for him because he seemed to have a terrible time whenever he so much as left his house. I was basically his first friend, and he wanted to show me how much it meant to him…

I felt a shiver running down my spine as that thought crossed my mind. I was Aichi's first friend. No one else. Only me. No one could say that they made friends with Aichi first because that title belonged to me. Not Kamui, not Misaki, not even Izaki or Morikawa… Just me. The idea suddenly made me smile, and I felt almost possessive over it… over Aichi even. I wanted to be Aichi's first friend, to keep him out of danger and scare off anyone that would threaten his smile… but why?

I reached into my pocket for my deck box once more. I pulled out the card at the front, which, of course, was Dragonic Overlord. I thought to myself, imagining myself speaking to the card. ' _Dragonic Overlord… if you could talk to me, would you tell me why I like to see Aichi smiling? And, more importantly… why do I enjoy seeing him smile at me?'_

-x~X~x-

Ohhhhhhhhhh, the Kaichi feeeeeeeeeeels! If MakoHaru (from Free!) doesn't kill me, then these guys will!

This chapter actually had a different ending for the most part. Miwa was actually gonna make a joke at Kai for being asexual, and then analyze it down to a delay in Kai's puberty, caused by shock of his parents' death (similar to how Misaki's parents' deaths had triggered her photographic memory). Then it would proceed to a bunch of perverted and awkward questions… as much fun as it was, I couldn't think of how to continue on from that point, so I rewrote it in a different way.

I just gotta say: I LOVE the idea of a flirty Miwa! Especially a gay flirty Miwa! I'm convinced that he's actually gay (or at least bi) too, just like I do Aichi, Izaki, and Kai (I'd say Ren too, but I ship him and Asaka XD). As it stands right now, my "Truly Gay Guys in CardFight! Vanguard!" list is as follows:

Aichi Sendou

Toshiki Kai

Yuta Izaki

Taishi Miwa

Jun Mutsuki (tell you about that another time, hahaha!)

Hope to see you guys next time! The next chapter will most likely be in Kai's perspective again, but you never know! Sayonara!


	6. Chapter 6: Toshiki Kai

Hey, guess what guys? I'M ON VACATION! Thought it might never get here, but now I'm finally having an awesome cruise aboard the Carnival Sunshine! But don't worry, I'm not gonna forget about you guys. I know everyone, no matter where they are, needs their fill of Kaichi! And I made sure to put as much Kaichi fluff into this one as I could muster.

Once again brought to us by the guy whose shell is slowly getting chipped away, Toshiki Kai!

-x~X~x-

"Dragonic Overlord attacks the Vanguard!" I declared, turning the card. I could picture my Avatar glaring fear into Juggernaut Maximum without so much as an ounce of effort. Its terrified expression was reminiscent to that of it's commander.

Morikawa looked over his hand, but I knew for a fact that all he had was a bunch of Grade 3 units. I knew everything he pulled in all of his drive checks was Grade 3, and the rest he used to ride or previously guard. I wasn't anywhere near as good at remembering things as Misaki, but when it came to Vanguard I took account of everything that happened.

"This can't be!" the idiot screamed, throwing his arms up in the air. The top card of his deck was lifted and carried over to the Damage Zone. Another Juggernaut Maximum, which meant that I had won. Every card in his Damage Zone was another Grade 3. It made me disgusted whenever I saw a deck that was so ill-built, especially his. "Oh deck, why must thou fall me when I need you the most?"

Izaki stepped up behind him and patted him on the shoulder. "I don't know, buddy, but maybe it would be the fact that there's a million and six Grade 3s?" he suggested mockingly.

Morikawa gasped. "Don't you ever suggest that the Grade 3s are the problem!" he shouted angrily, then crossed his arms. "And for the record, I run exactly thirty-two of them as of today." As I picked up my cards from the table we were playing on, I resisted the overwhelming urge to smack Morikawa for that statement.

Izaki's jaw dropped at the news. "Are you telling me that you only run a single Grade 1 and 2 Unit each?!"

"Well duh. Why would I need anything else? I only need the Grade 1 and 2 to ride on, and then its Grade 3s all the way!" …I still say that that was the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life. And if I actually cared even remotely for him, I would have told him that.

I walked away from the table as Izaki got into a heated lecture about proper balance in a deck, and saw that Aichi had finished his match as well. He waved at me until I walked over to him.

"Congrats, Kai!" he said to me.

"Aichi, beating that idiot is no cause for celebration. Its almost shameful to even play with him." I wouldn't pull any punches when it came to Vanguard, not even if it was with Aichi or his friends.

Aichi laughed awkwardly. "Well, he might not be a good deck builder… but you know that he's actually a really strong cardfighter when he has a decent deck."

"I never said he wasn't a good fighter, I just said he was an idiot."

Aichi and I got to the party about half an hour ago. It took place in the school's gymnasium, which had been cheaply decorated with ribbons and streamers along the walls, with a few strobe lights flashing around and some light music playing. Miwa told me to expect as much, considering he used to go to Hitsue Middle. Though he did mention that they went all out when it came to food, and he was right. The food table took up the entire length of the back wall, and had everything from pizza and soda to cake and cookies. Kamui had been pigging out on the snacks since we had arrived, and even Misaki and Aichi had stopped by a few times in between her matches.

The Vanguard tournament took place shortly after we got there. It had sixteen tables spread out along the length of the gym, away from all the dancing, music the majority of hormonal teenagers. There were sixteen of us playing, five from our group and eleven others. Kamui opted out, preferring to keep eating and watch everyone else play than to put the food down. He said that no one else was worth his time, and then crammed a piece of cake in his mouth like a revolting beast.

Morikawa and Izaki faced off in the first round, and by some miracle Izaki lost to him (though I wouldn't have been surprised if Izaki let him win). The rest of us had been paired up with random people from the school. In the second round, I got stuck with the idiot, and Aichi and Misaki faced more random faces.

We continued to watch the last match of the round. Misaki was playing, and she just rode Scarlet Witch, CoCo and moved Little Witch, LuLu from the Soul to the Rear Guard and drew using both of their skills. Then she called Emerald Witch, LaLa, dropping Sky Witch, Nana to draw again with LaLa's skill.

I was surprised when Misaki switched from using the Tsukuyomi deck to a Witch deck. While both are Oracle Think Tank decks, they function so much more differently. Tsukuyomi needed six cards in the Soul to use her to the fullest potential, while the Witches needed the soul empty. She never said it, but that deck was really important to her because it was the one her parents built for her.

I asked her about it one day and she said that she wanted to keep getting better for the sake of her parents. She would always have the deck, and the memories it brought her, but she wanted to improve her skills with the Oracle Think Tank, as a testament to them for introducing her to the clan she loved so much, even if that meant changing her deck a bit. She never wanted anyone to disgrace her skills with the Oracle Think Tank, because it was almost like they were disgracing her parents. She overcame her reluctance to give up Tsukuyomi in exchange for the ability to master her clan and bring out its potential. I was honestly impressed by her resolve.

"With a boost from LaLa, CoCo attacks Mistress Huricane!" Misaki exclaimed. "And because there's no cards in the Soul, CoCo's power goes up by 3000, for a grand total of 20000!"

Her opponent, some teenage girl from Aichi's school, grunted and threw down two cards from her hand. "Big League Bear and Skyhigh Walker will defend the Vanguard!" she declared. She smirked triumphantly, as if she was certain her shield wouldn't be penetrated.

I knew at that moment that Misaki was going to win. Her opponent's shield total was only 25000, and Misaki only needed one trigger to get over it. Knowing Misaki, she had most likely memorized the amount of cards remaining in her deck, and how many of those cards were triggers, and then her odds of pulling one. By the look of confidence on her face, she knew that there was most definitely a trigger on top of her deck. With both of them at four damage and Silent Tom ready for another attack, this was an easy win for Misaki.

"Drive check." Misaki flipped over the top card; Oracle Guardian, Nike. "A Critical trigger, all effects to CoCo. Second check." The second card was Battle Sister, Ginger. "Another critical trigger. I give the power to Silent Tom, and the Critical to my Vanguard! Take her out, CoCo!"

I imagined CoCo firing a blast of red energy from her staff at Mistress Hurricane, with LaLa giving her support from behind. Silent Tom was reading an attack if he needed to, and LuLu was prepared to give him a boost. Skyhigh Walker and Big League Bear were completely obliterated, and Mistress Hurricane was sent flying across the Pale Moon clan's circus setting and collided harshly with the ground, and then blacking out shortly after.

In reality, the top two cards of her opponent's deck floated into the Damage Zone; another Mistress Hurricane and Barking Manticore. Neither were a heal trigger, which meant Misaki had won to game.

A few people in the crowd behind us cheered loudly for Misaki as she gathered her cards. She put them away and walked back over to me and Aichi, ignoring the fan club she had apparently started. "Well, that went well," she said with a relieved sigh.

"I knew you'd beat her," I said to her. "There was no way that you were going to lose to anyone with a _Pale Moon_ deck." It wasn't hard to tell that Misaki compared herself to Asaka in any cardfight, especially if her opponent used a Pale Moon deck. The two had become sworn rivals, they just refused to acknowledge it because of their pride, and Misaki absolutely refused to lose to anyone using Asaka's clan. It made me wonder how she would do going up against that guy from one of Ren's lackies, Team Rising Stars. Akira was it…?

Misaki smirked. "I'd be lying if I said that the image of wiping the floor with Asaka's face never crossed my mind in that fight," she said jokingly. "But that wasn't a hard fight, honestly. She was a novice compared to Asaka. Beating her felt nothing like beating the real thing."

"Either way, you did good."

"U-Uh, yeah! You were awesome, Misaki!" Aichi finally jumps in. Misaki thanked Aichi for his praise and headed off to the snack table for another bite to eat before they announced the last four pairings. Aichi looked eagerly at me. "D-Did I do good, Kai?"

"You?"

"Yeah! I was right next to you. You had to see me win my match, right?"

To be honest, I had never even looked at his fight. I had my own to focus on at the time. Even so, I couldn't say it like that. He obviously valued my opinion greatly. The last time I said something to him without thinking, I was later hauling him out of the vice grip that PSYqualia had on him. I needed to be careful, if nothing else to prevent the catastrophe that was an evil (dare I say emo) Aichi.

"I didn't really need to watch you," I said. His face fell quickly, to the point I was certain he would start to cry, and a small whimper escaped his lips before I continued. "Aside from Misaki and me, no one here stands a chance against you. You're a national champion, remember?"

Aichi's eyes grew wide, and his breathe grew short. A smile soon spread from one corner of his mouth to the other, flashing me with his shiny, well-managed teeth. His cheeks grew flushed as he was filled with pride.

I smiled back at him. He knew me well enough to know I wasn't one for excessive praise. He could become the world champion and be handed a hundred-billion yen as a reward, and all I'd do is say "well done" or something similar. I'm not saying I wouldn't like to shower him with compliments, but I just don't feel it necessary to say so much when you can say what you mean with so little.

"Thanks a lot, Tosh-!" Aichi and I froze almost simultaneously at the slip-up. He had almost called me by my first name, I was certain. He had never done that before. Up until that point, he had stuck with 'Kai' and not once had he even attempted to call me 'Toshiki.' He knew our boundaries toward each other; we weren't close enough that he could call me by my first name, especially not when I didn't let anyone else call me that… were we?

The silence between us was broken when Aichi started to sputter an apology to me while waving his hands frantically "I-I'm sorry! I meant K-K-Kai… I don't know why I-I… almost said Toshiki…" he said, gradually getting softer in his speaking volume. He tucked his hands behind his back shyly, looking down to his feet as if he had done something overly wrong. "I mean, we're not _THAT_ close. Even Miwa doesn't call you by first name yet, and he's known you longer than any of us… So, I'm really sorry if I was out of line with that…"

At that moment, I was hit by a sudden epiphany. The two of us had been through an awful lot together of the last few months. I taught him to play Vanguard. I was his inspiration to play the game he grew to love so much, and to get better at it with every ounce of his being. We've been to Regionals and Nationals together. I brought him back from the depths of PSYqualia and restored his love and faith in the Royal Paladins. I was there for him through all of it, and he was still talking to me like we were nothing more than mere acquaintances on a one-sided last name basis.

After going through all that, could I still say that Aichi and I were really that distant from one another anymore?

"Aichi…"

My voice brought his eyes up to look at mine. "Y-Yes, Kai?" he asked. His desperate expression spoke volumes about what was going through his mind. _'Kai, please don't be mad at me! I promise I won't ever call you Toshiki again! Just don't go home and leave me!'_ Honestly, he was very easy to read that it was almost laughable. That might be why he was bullied for most of his school life.

"I honestly don't care if you wanna call me by my first name. It makes no difference to me." And that was the truth… to some extent. The thought of him saying Toshiki didn't bug me nearly as much as when Miwa did it, if at all. Miwa did it to piss me off, but Aichi clearly saw it as a term of endearment and a way to say he felt closer to me. That thought gave me a warm tingling feeling running up and down my spine.

Aichi gasped once more, for the umpteenth time this evening. "Are you sure!?" he exclaimed excitedly.

I shrugged at him. "At least when you say it, I know its not meant to be another way to get on my nerves like Miwa does."

Aichi's happy-go-lucky smile had once again returned. I felt another shiver going up my spine when he tackled me with a hug. "Toshi-Ka… Toshiki…" I was fully taken aback when he spoke my name. It felt weird. Outside of my Uncle, Miwa and any tournament official, no one has called me Toshiki in such a long time. Not since my parents died… It felt refreshing, comforting almost…

…Warm. That was exactly how it felt to me.

"Its time for the quarter finals of our tournament!" the guy volunteering as the master of ceremonies announced, breaking mine and Aichi's tender moment. I think he said his name was Kohaku, but I could care less. "In the first match, Aichi Sendou will face Misaki Tokura! And the second match will feature Toshiki Kai and Kou Amegakure!"

Aichi seemed visbly disappointed. Not that he really had anything against Misaki, but I knew that he'd rather face me. I give him more of a challenge, and that's what he truly seeks in a card fight. He might laugh if I told him that it probably challenged me more than him in our fights at that point. The thought made me chuckle almost.

As everyone made their way to the designated fight tables, Aichi turned to me before he started his match with Misaki. His expression screamed that he was concerned about this girl I was supposed to fight. "T-Toshiki… be careful with Kou," he said to me. "Whatever she says or does, just focus on your cardfight."

I was confused by his warning. Exactly what was this girl like? And why did Aichi seem so worried about me? It wasn't like I had anything to worry about when it came to Vanguard, and if she tried to cheat, so what? I had faced hundreds of underground fighters, seen them cheat, and still beaten their asses. A teenager that couldn't be any older than Aichi couldn't be much of a problem for me.

I was soon face-to-face with my opponent when a young girl stood at the table across from me. She was tall for her age, almost as tall as me, and slender as well. Her long, brown hair had been well-groomed, judging by the way it flowed effortlessly as she walked. She was dressed in a very revealing ensemble; a white and pink striped spaghetti-strap tank-top that cut off just above her stomach, flashing her smooth and supple skin that seemed to glow in the flashing lights of the party. It showed off her defining curves and seemed to make her already prominent chest expand even further out. Her bottom half was covered in a short, white skirt, showing off her long, thin legs. If I had to guess, based on her appearance and the amount of obvious effort that went into it, I would have assumed she'd be a member of some pop idol group. So that was Kou Amegakure… she didn't appear threatening in any way, but I kept my guard up.

As she took out her deck, her chocolate brown eyes stared into mine with intrigue. She hummed at me with interest. "So, you're the infamous Toshiki Kai," she said, almost teasingly.

"Correct. And you must be Kou Amegakure," I said with disinterest.

"I feel I should warn you, I've never lost a cardfight to a guy before," she stated, shuffling her deck gracefully. I did the same with mine. We then placed our Starting Vanguard on the playmat.

"Are you insinuating that your win record is based solely on your opponent's gender, and not your skills as a fighter?" I asked. "In which case, your saying that any girl could beat you?"

My question seemed to throw her off guard when we drew our hands. Her eyes flashed with a grimace of confusion, but then refocused into a triumphant grin. "I'm not saying I lose to every girl I face. I'm quite skilled in my own right. It's just that, going up against the other half gives me a certain… advantage, let's say." As she spoke, she held her arm to rest under her chest and lifted it higher, raising her chest up even higher. The crowd of boys behind me went into a frenzied cheers and catcalls.

Then I got what Aichi's warning was about.

I smirked, even chuckled to myself. Kou used her good looks and body shape to throw her opponent's off their game so that she could swoop in for an easy win. If she wanted to flirt her way to a victory against me, she would be trying for a long time, at least until the sixth card landed in her Damage Zone.

I glanced over at Aichi to tell him that Kou's tricks wouldn't work on me, but what I saw when I did was Aichi glaring intensely at Kou. He looked angry, furious even. Like he had some personal grudge against her for whatever. I shrugged it off as just a lack of respect for her way of cardfighting. and turned back to get ready to fight.

Kou, myself, Aichi and Misaki all reached for our Starting Vanguards as the MC gave us the signal to start. "Stand up, the Vanguard!"

-x~X~x-

(Updated to account for the fact I confuse my card games very easily:P)

There you have it, my first official Vanguard Whore in the form of Kou Amegakure! What do you think, too much? She's only like 15-16 years old if she goes to Aichi's school, so she's not likely to have as great a body as I've given her, but I've seen anime workers do a hell of a lot worse with younger girls.

Also, we most certainly needed a certain someone to get in there and make Aichi-chan jealous, didn't we? I think we did. Yeah, lets go with that!

I also made sure to fluff it up with the Kaichi. Aichi-chan lets Toshiki call him by first name now! Isn't that just too cute? I'm amazed it took the writing of a fanfiction writer to get it to happen hahaha.

The Morikawa bashing continues in this one too! I can easily picture Morikawa using only a single grade 1 and 2 unit in his deck, the other 8 divided among the 16 mandatory triggers and 32 Grade 3s. Idiot… And yes, Izaki may or may not have let Morikawa win…

As for Misaki's deck change, I'm aware that she used this deck in the Asia Curcuit before Goddess of the Sun, and then went on the use the Genesis clan in Link Joker. But I still say that Misaki is the master of the Oracle Think Tank (certainly better that that douchebag in Vanguard G, Tsuneto), and she deserved to use the best deck out there. I personally use the Battle Sisters, focusing on Fromage and Cookie, but that's out of preference for the Limit Breaks. Tsukuyomi may be a better suit for her personality and amazing memory, but the Witches are a lot stronger, have more draw power and are extremely user friendly, and I honestly think that CoCo makes a better Avatar for Misaki than Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun, or any of the Genesis cards. It just seems to suit her, you know? Watch her using her Witch deck in season 2, in the place they first meat Leon.

Anyway, see you guys next time! It'll be in Toshiki's perspective again!

Side note: Do I say "honestly" too much? I think I do…


	7. Chapter 7: Toshiki Kai

Hey everyone! I'm back again, with more Kaichi feels coming your way!

I've been watching Legion Mate for the last few days. And I gotta say… OMFG! THE KAICHI FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS!

I mean, seriously! No one can possibly keep saying that Aichi is there "mate" and spend half of his matches going on about "Soulmate" Legions with Aichi's Avatar and not have it mean something! Even the Cardfight! Vanguard! Wikia agrees! It specifically says in Aichi's relationship description of Toshiki: "The amount of times Aichi is called mate by Kai brings certain things into question. " …Now, I'm no expert in romance, but even that is a clear indicator that Kai has at least SOME feelings for Aichi! Or at least likes him more than just a best friend, right? RIGHT?!

I also saw some of Vanguard G, a lot of AMVs too, and I saw that Misaki uses Tsukuyomi again in her Oracle Think Tank deck. I saw it in a video of Misaki facing Tokoha. It was a pretty cool fight! I got to see the full power potential of the Oracle Think Tank's Tsukuyomi build, and I also go to see the amazing formation power of the Neo Nectar clan.

I swear to god, I wanna make a deck for each clan, just because I love this game so much! I already have an Oracle Think Tank deck based around Battle Sisters, and a Royal Paladin deck that uses the Blizzard Formation with Fang of Light, Garmore. I'm not too fond of the Megacolony clan to be honest, or Link Joker, just cuz they restrict your opponent's movements and I really don't like that style of game play! Just not fun at all!

Anywho, on with the show! Chapter 7, brought to us by Aichi's "Mate," Toshiki Kai!

-x~X~x-

"The winner of this match is Toshiki Kai!"

I could feel the crowd of boys behind me sending me death glares, not that I cared. It was clear that Kou had pretty much every boy in the school wrapped around her finger because of her body. Not that she wasn't a decent cardfighter, but if she looked like any other average girl her age I doubted that the boys would adore her like they did. Still, it was an interesting match to say the least. I certainly wouldn't be forgetting it anytime soon.

Just as I had theorized, Kou had tried to flirt with me from the very start of my match with her until the last card had been placed in her Damage Zone. She winked, batted her eyes, called me inappropriate things such as "stud" or "hunk" (which left a sour taste in my mouth). She had even leaned over the table in an attempt to give me an easy way to look at her cleavage. Too bad for her, flirting didn't work on me. I found it funny when the last card of the game was revealed to be Alluring Succubus. I would have assumed that it was her Avatar card, and if not, it should have been. It just seemed to fit her personality so well.

I snuck a glance over at Aichi, who was still playing his match with Misaki. His look of anger had subsided into an aura of relief. He must have been happy that someone had beaten her, a male someone at that, and I don't blame him. Kou used her looks to disgrace the game he loved with every fiber of his being. I loved Vanguard just as much as he did, but if someone wanted to make an idiot of themselves while playing it then it wasn't my problem.

"Scarlet Witch, CoCo attacks Majesty Lord Blaster!" Misaki's declaration brought me back to her and Aichi's cardfight.

"Uh, n-no guard…"

There was no trigger, but with Aichi at 5 Damage that was game. Star Call Trumpeter drifted from the top of Aichi's deck into the Damage Zone. Misaki had beaten him.

I remember Aichi's last turn. He rode Majesty Lord Blaster with Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark already in the Rear Guard. He wore down Misaki's defenses with the Rear Guard, then he had Majesty Lord Blaster attack CoCo. She used up every card in her hand to just barely defend against his attack with a shield of only 20000 to block Majesty Lord Blaster's 15000. Aichi never pulled any triggers, but he could have used Lord Blaster's skill to move Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark into the Soul to give itself another 10000 power, and then it would gain 2000 more power and another critical because of its other skill. With Misaki at 4 Damage, Aichi could have won the game…

…but he forgot.

He missed his chance to make the game his. That one mistake cost him the game. A rookie mistake at that. Aichi didn't make rookie mistakes. He was too skilled to do that. He knew better than that.

"The winner of the match is Misaki Tokura!"

Aichi sighed, seemingly accepting his defeat, and shrugged it off like no big deal. He smiled at Misaki. "Good job, Misaki," he said cheerfully. "Your new deck seems to be working well for you!"

I glanced at Misaki. Her eyes were narrowed ever so slightly, and she had a hand on her hip. By her stance, she had picked up on Aichi's mistake as well.

"Aichi… your too experienced to be making that kind of mistake, and you know it," Misaki stated blunted. Aichi flinched visibly at her statement. "What's going on with you?"

Aichi gathered up his cards, trying obviously hard to avoid eye contact with her or anyone else. "Oh, um… I wasn't really thinking very much in that cardfight. I was… uh…"

Aichi clearly didn't want to say why he made such a crucial mistake. Maybe he was having an off night and was just too embarrassed to say so, or he didn't think we would believe him and assume he was just making excuses. Whether or not that was the reason, I decided to let it go and keep my eye on him for the time being.

"We all make misplays now and then, even me, Misaki."

Aichi seemed to jump at the sound of my voice. His nervousness and anxiety seemed to fade away almost instantly, and a smile graced his lips. "Ka-… Toshiki…" he said, a gentle blush bringing some color to his slightly pale cheeks. He still wasn't used to saying my first name, but, to be perfectly honest, neither was I. His soft, delicate voice made my stomach flip upside down as the characters of my name were spoken to me. I thought it would be annoying if anything, but it was refreshing to say the least. It brought a small smile to my face.

Misaki propped an eyebrow up at me, diverting her attention from Aichi. "'Toshiki…?'" she questioned, a slight smirk stretching across her face. I was reminded of the fact that Misaki was focused on her cardfight to pay attention to my conversation with Aichi about my name.

I shrugged my shoulders at her, trying to hide my contentment. "There's no reason he needs to keep calling me by my last name," I summarized. "You can call me Toshiki if you want to, I really don't care."

"No thanks. I'll stick with Kai for now. I'll be right back, gotta go to the ladies' room."

"Hurry back, our match will start soon."

Misaki nodded and walked away to find a bathroom. All the while, I couldn't help but be worried she knew something. Misaki was smart, almost too smart. She knew of my distaste for people calling me by first name, and by that smirk that steadily when she walked off, she knew that I didn't mean what I said about me not caring. It didn't take much effort for her to read people, and at that moment I was an open book to her. She could tell that, not only did Aichi's use of my name not bother me, but it also brought me elation. I didn't want anyone thinking anything weird about me, and to a lesser extent Aichi, and I had a feeling a little bubble had formed in the back of her mind. Sometimes I hated her sharp intellect, and that was no exception.

"Hello, Toshiki was it?" That voice made me cringe irritably, what was being said even more so.

I spun around to see Kou standing there behind me. She had her hands on her hips, her once alluring smile now pulling the corners of her mouth down into a frown. I had assumed that she was upset by my beating her, and she was there to give me a piece of her mind. That was the vibe I was picking up from her fan club, at least, considering I could hear their intense and oddly ominous chuckling and smirking from behind me.

There was no way in hell I was letting that little girl call me by first name. Only Aichi could do that. "Kai, if you don't mind. Did you need something, Kou?" I asked as politely as I could. The task proved difficult, however, as her flirty tactics had gotten on my nerves by the end of our fight. After my match with her, I had hoped that I could never have to speak with her again. Clearly my prayers had fallen on deaf ears.

"Actually yes," she said firmly, raising her arms to her chest and crossing them over. "You're the first boy that's ever beaten me in a cardfight. Not only that, you're the first person who's ever resisted my looks, as if you didn't care…" And I truly didn't care for them either, but I felt it unnecessary to point that out when she was obviously enraged. "I have just one thing to say to you, Toshiki Kai…"

I was expecting something childish to come out of her mouth, akin to 'I hate you!' or 'Go to hell!' or even, if she was even old enough to swear at that level, 'Fuck you!' But no. Nothing of the sort escaped her lips. Instead, I heard a soft chuckle. I watched her frown ascend into a lustful grin, and saw her arms wrap around my arm. She had purposefully made it so that my elbow was lodged directly between her over-developed chest, making it so that my skin could feel each of her two breasts protruding through the thin cotton material of her shirt. They could almost wrap all the way around my arm, if not for the tank top.

"I find that… _incredibly_ sexy."

The army of boys behind me had somehow managed to say "WHAT THE HELL?!" in perfect unison at Kou's display of affection towards me. Aichi, not unlike myself, was in a state of pure shock. His jaw seemed to be reaching for the floor, almost unhinging itself. His eyes had practically grown to the size of plates, and his face had lit up into a brilliant red. The whole room seemed to come to a momentary stand-still.

"What do you say we head over to my place? You could show me a thing or two about Vanguard, and I could show _you_ a thing or two…

I, myself, could only feel my eye twitching irritably. That girl had a lot of guts I her to pull a stunt like this. The girls from my old school were never this straightforward. I don't think a girl, or anyone really, had ever been so bold with me. And if I had a say in it, they weren't going to again.

"Listen, Kou-"

"Get away from him!"

I was taken aback when I saw Aichi tear Kou off of my arm abruptly and then push her a few feet away. He stood as a barricade between her and myself, raising his arms up like a defensive wall to keep Kou away from me.

"Aichi…?"

"What the hell, you little twerp?" Kou responded rudely. Her eyes were narrowed angrily, and her hand was placed ever-so dramatically on her hip as she leered him down.

I leaned forward just enough to see if Aichi was ok, but when I saw his expression I was stunned. He had this look of pure anger and protectiveness. His eyes were filled with adrenaline, as if even Kou couldn't intimidate him. I haven't seen that look since I took Blaster Blade from Morikawa, and he wanted to fight me to get him back. A look of pure confidence, one that said that he was not going to back down.

"Toshiki doesn't want to leave with you, Kou! He's not interested in you like that! He came here with _me_ , because _I_ asked him to!" he yelled at her. "I'm not going to let you take him from me, Kou, so back off! I don't care who you are, I won't let anyone take Toshiki away from me!"

"And what exactly do you plan on doing about it? I would be willing to bet that Kai came here with you out of pity, because he felt bad that you couldn't get anyone else to come here with you. You may be a big shot in Vanguard, Sendou, but in the real world your no different than those two idiots you used to get bullied by. You'll always be a nobody to me, Sendou… and to Kai as well."

I had never seen Aichi act like he was before. He is normally very well-behaved, able to keep his anger in-check no matter what riled him up. He never yelled at anyone, always so quiet and reserved. In my opinion, Aichi was the most wonderful and kind-hearted person I had ever met in my life.

…Which was why I was flabbergasted at watching the boy trembling, seething almost, in anger. His teeth were clenched together, practically threatening to breaking each other. His right eye was twitching irritably, and his breathing had grown ragged. He was acting he was using every ounce of willpower to keep himself from attacking the girl…

…And then, the unthinkable happened.

"OW!"

I watched Kou stumble sideways, holding her cheek, and falling into the arms of her fanboys. Aichi let out several heavy breaths as he slowly lowered his still trembling hand. Kou looked up at him fearfully as he leered down on her, just as she had done to him not too long ago, and screamed at her. "I don't care if you think you're all that, Kou. Don't you _dare_ talk about Toshiki like you know him. _I_ know him. If he didn't want to come here, he wouldn't have! He treats me like an equal, not like the boys you have following you around like lapdogs! Say what you will about me, but don't _ever_ think that you know what he thinks of me! YOU GOT THAT?!"

A few seconds, almost a minute, had passed. No one had spoke. The entire party had come to a standstill because everyone had turned to witness Aichi's outburst, and because it was _Aichi's_ outburst the crowd was completely stunned. None more so than me, however.

I was shell-shocked. I had never known that Aichi was so defensive of me. He was ready to make an enemy out of anyone if it meant keeping them away from me. No, it seemed to be more than simply protecting me. It was… possessive, for lack of a better word.

…Was Aichi jealous?

Kou said nothing as she stood back up and brushed herself off. She started to walk away, but not before casting a very wicked look Aichi's way. She sauntered her hips as she walked off, her fanboys following her in utter silence.

I finally found it in me to speak to Aichi again. "Um… wow, Aichi…" I said, patting him on the shoulder. "I, uh… didn't think you… had it in you."

Aichi flinched at my touch. He looked around the room, suddenly aware that everyone had seen him blow up at Kou like he did. He buried his face in his hands, but not before I caught a glimpse of red that crept up across his face. He muttered out something along the lines of 'I can't believe I did that' but it was too muffled to say for sure. One thing was for sure, I didn't think either of us knew that Aichi could be so bold.

"Getting back to our tournament…" the MC says awkwardly, tugging at his shirt collar. "Now, it's time for the final match! Toshiki Kai will face off against Misaki Tokura for the Card Capital gift card, with a credit of twenty-thousand yen! Will the Wonderful Witch of the Oracle Think Tank reign victorious? Or will the Kagero King drop the hammer on her expectations? A fight between two former members of Team Q4, our National Vanguard Champions, can bring nothing but an intense fight!" The sound of the MC's voice announcing mine and Misaki's fight began to draw in a bigger crowd than before. All of Kou's fans had left, but there were still a lot of true Vanguard fans in the mix. It seemed like the crowd was cheering for each of us respectively, about half and half.

Just as the MC had finished announcing, Misaki had run back to us. "Sorry I took so long," she said. "I passed Kou on the way back, and she seemed pretty upset. Did something happen?"

Aichi brought his hands down from his face to see Misaki, but blushed even more when I looked over at him. He clutched his hands tightly as he tried to fake a smile. "I'm-I'm gonna go try and get Kamui away from the cake… a-and bring him back here. Good luck, T-Toshiki! ...Oh, and you too Misaki! See you after!" he said, backing away at first and then breaking into a forward run for the snack table.

There it was again. That fluttering feeling in the pit of my stomach as my name escaped from Aichi's lips. But this time, there was something new. A feeling of disappointment, watching Aichi run away from me. I knew in my head that he was coming back (Kamui could only eat so much junk before he needed his fill of Vanguard), but it still felt so wrong to see his back to me. I didn't know why, but I wanted him behind me. Watching me. Admiring my strength and praising me… Being there for me. I almost… needed him.

I watched him try to haul Kamui away for a short while, but then turned my attention back to Misaki. She had switched to the table I was standing before, placing her Starting Vanguard face down in the Vanguard Circle. I did the same with mine. The two of us exchanged decks and began shuffling the other's.

"What's the matter, Kai?" she asked me, a teasing tone dripping from her voice. "You seem a tad flustered."

I felt my face with my hand, noticing how hot it to the touch. I scoffed at her. "Oh shut up."

"Seriously though, what happened between Kou and Aichi? She was saying some pretty nasty stuff in there. Something about revenge and it seemed to involve Aichi." She kept her voice low as to not arouse suspicion, but it was enough to make my eyes widen and my heart skip a beat.

"R-Revenge…?"

She nodded. "I didn't hear her very well, but she said something about making Aichi pay for stealing her man or something… I don't know what she's going on about, or what she's planning, but based on what I heard about her from some other girls, I know what she's capable of. She's like the Queen Bee of Hitsue Middle, and she can make or break anyone's reputation at the bat of an eye."

I was worried when she said that. I was worried that she was going to make Aichi the social outcast that he once was. I was worried Aichi would once again become the target of every bully in the school. I was worried Aichi would.

"The question remains, what did Aichi do to make her so angry? He's normally very nice to anyone, even to someone as unbearable as Kou. What happened, Kai?"

"He, uh…" I felt awkward and somewhat embarrassed admitting that Aichi, of all people, made a scene in front of everyone to stand up for me. It made feel a bit like I was admitting that I needed Aichi to fight my battles. Even so, I felt a sense of comfort knowing that Aichi had my back when I needed it, no matter the consequences to himself. "I'll explain it to you later. Let's get this match over with as quickly as possible. I have a bad feeling about all this."

Misaki nodded at me. "Alright."

I looked over at Aichi. He had his hands on Kamui's feet and was trying to pull him away forcefully from the snack table, while Kamui clung childishly to the table, yelling about wanting to stay and eat his cake. Still, Aichi continued to pull, and I couldn't help but smile when he said that he didn't want to miss my match.

I turned back to Misaki. She had placed her Starting Vanguard on the table, and I did the same. No matter what, I wasn't going to let Kou get her hands on Aichi. He was too precious a friend for me to let him suffer the wrath of anyone, much less Kou Amegakure. I would protect him from anything, even Kou.

"Stand up…"

"the…"

"Vanguard!"

At least, I thought I could…

-x~X~x-

Ugh! Finally done!

I've been working on this chapter all week, tweeking it every chance I got. Yesterday, the only breaks I took from working on this after I was finished working were to drive my mom to our pub (my dad owns it), and then pick her up 2 hours later. Aside from that, I was up till 11 at night till I finally crashed. So I hope you guys like it.

I absolutely love the idea of a jealous Aichi! Seeing that slutty bitch, Kou with her hands and boobs all over Kai are enough to bring out the animalistic instincts in this shy little blueberry boy, hehehe! My original take on the chapter were for Kai to flick Kou in the forehead, intimidate her, and accidentally imply that he and Aichi might be a couple by saying "I'm with Aichi." This version, however, makes a lot more sense because I need an antagonist to be the catalyst for Aichi's humiliation (which, FYI, will be in the next chapter!). Just you wait, Aichi-chan, you'll be crying soon enough, hehehe…

The next chapter will be in Kai's perspective (again, sorry!) but hopefully it'll be the last time for the story, and then I should be able to jump back to Aichi for the final chapter, if not one more chapter before then (not Aichi or Kai). See you guys next time!

KAICHI FOREVER!


	8. Chapter 8: Toshiki Kai

It's finally here! The day has finally come when you guys can discover what event has caused Aichi-chan so much abuse and suffering, how his life has been thrown into complete and utter disarray because of one event… Doesn't that sound like fun? XD

I honestly have no idea how to promote the idea of a hypnotist putting one into a trance so that they can make them do all sorts of goofy and ridiculous things and not make it sound unappealing. Fun to watch, I'll admit, but not really that fun to have a whole audience laughing at you, especially when you don't know what it is you did. So forgive me if I was a bit vague and lackluster when I was writing this one.

On with the show! Chapter 8, and the last chapter (I hope!) of our champion of the Dragonic Overlords, Toshiki Kai!

-x~X~x-

"With a boost from Bahr, Dragonic Overlord the End attacks Scarlet Witch, CoCo!"

I had to hurry up and end that match as quickly as possible. I needed to protect Aichi from whatever Kou had planned. I put every bit of skill and power I had into my match with Misaki, pushing her to five damage fairly quickly, even though I was still only at three.

I really didn't care about who won, but I didn't want Aichi to get suspicious if I either quit the game or didn't give my all in a cardfight. If possible, I was going to stop Kou in her tracks and Aichi wouldn't even know something had happened. But ending my game with Misaki was the first priority.

"No guard."

"Twin Drive! First check!" It was Embodiment of Spear, Tahr. "Critical Trigger. The power goes to Nehalem. The critical to my Vanguard. Second check!" Blue Ray Dracokid. "Another Critical Trigger! Again, power to Nehalem, critical to The End! Strike CoCo down with the fury and passion that could bring the world to ashes! Dragonic Overlord the End!"

I pictured Dragonic Overlord the End towering ferociously over CoCo, readying its massive onslaught. CoCo stood paralyzed in fear, her mouth agape and her whole body trembling, with Sky Witch, Nana to her left, and Battle Sister, Glace to her right, both just as frozen in terror as my dragon stood atop them all, bringing its sword down on CoCo. No one could stop the ferocity of Dragonic Overlord when it was at the pinnacle of its strength.

Even if Misaki somehow miraculously pulled three heal triggers, I would still be able to use The End's Persona Blast and stand him once again for another attack, not to mention Nehalem's attack with Lizard General, Conroe's boost, and Misaki used up all of the cards in her hand last turn, hoping to end it. This was the end, no matter what she did, and nothing she could do could stop it.

Misaki checked the top card and revealed it. Emerald Witch, LaLa. She placed it in the damage zone and sighed. "I guess I lose."

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!" The MC declared, just as I manage to breath for what felt like the first time since the match began. I didn't even realize that that fight had taken so much out of me until it was over. I guess I was just that determined to finish so I could protect Aichi. "He and his Overlord have fought their way to the top, taking down every opponent in their way! Even the mighty mistress of the Oracle Think Tank couldn't hope to reach the level of the Emperor of the Kagero clan! Let's hear it for our champion, Toshiki Kai!"

The crowd wasn't exactly on my side after beating Kou, but they did manage to applaud me half-heartedly, if only to be polite and not kill the party. No cheers, but everyone was clapping. Honestly, it was preferable to having the entire crowd screaming and shouting my name, so I considered that a bonus when the MC handed me the winner's prize. It was a gift card with Card Capital's logo on the front. I shoved it haphazardly into my pocket and ran back to Aichi. He was standing next to Kamui, who stood there rubbing his bloated stomach. Served him right for eating so much, I thought to myself. Aichi, on the other hand, had been applauding me with a sincere smile, the awkwardness from before seemingly forgotten.

"Aichi, are you ok?" I asked. He didn't seem distraught, nor was he hurt in anyway. His clothes weren't disheveled or anything, so I could safely assume that Kou hadn't stricken yet.

My worry about Aichi's condition had made me realize that Aichi wasn't wearing anything I had ever seen before. He had on this light-purple t-shirt with a white button-up vest over it. His shirt was tucked neatly inside the waistband of his tan slacks, held in place by a black leather belt. His old, worn out, grey sneakers were replaced with a new pair, purple exterior with white stripes and laces. I could tell from the boldness of the colors and lack of fading that Aichi hadn't had those clothes for very long, so he must have bought them for tonight.

"Um, yeah," he responded. His tone implied an uncomfortable confusion. "I'm-I'm fine, Toshiki. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing. Forget I said anything…"

"Wow, bro," Kamui interjects. "I didn't think you were being serious when you told me, but you weren't kidding! The jerk really _does_ let you call him by first name now!" He smirked at me mockingly. "The one time I tried it, he flicked me in the forehead. You must be _really_ special to him." He was talking more to me than to Aichi, but Aichi still squeaked at the implication. Either way, it still made my eye twitch.

"Keep it up, piggy, and you'll get more than a flick," I said, giving him another gentle flick in the forehead for emphasis. His response was only a mild shout from the pain, and then an angry glare, but I shook it off.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The MC was up on the gymnasium stage, a wireless microphone in his hands. "Now that our Vanguard tournament has reached its conclusion, I'd like everyone to join me for our next event! We'll be having a skilled hypnotist come up here, and put one of you into a trance. Let's make some noise for the master of the mind herself, the lovely and talented, Miss Mystery!"

The crowd went nuts when a woman walked out from behind the curtains. Her long blonde hair was tied in a pig tail to the right side of her head, with long strands still running down the other side, going as far as her chest. Her eyes were concealed behind a black eye mask with thick white rims, bringing out the boldness of her lipstick-covered smile. She wore a black, V-neck dress that stretched all the way down to her thighs and was slit along the sides of her hips, and donned a reversible black and red cape with the black side facing outward. Around her neck was a white ribbon tied in a small bow, acting as a choker, and stood in a pair of black high-heels.

This 'Miss Mystery' waved to the adoring crowd and took a bow. The MC handed her the microphone and then exited the stage. "Thank you for the warm introduction, Kohaku!" she said, holding the microphone to her mouth. "Hi, everyone! Are you all enjoying the party?" Her enthusiastic voice resonated throughout the gymnasium, even amongst the sea of cheers that it brought about. "Now then, let's get on with the show! One of our overhead lights will randomly select a person in the crowd to come up and let me work my magic! I'll reach into the very depths of your soul and drag out the person you never wanted to show!"

In my opinion, she could have done a hell of a lot better at selling herself, but everyone in the crowd seemed to be drawn into it for some reason. A lot of people had shot their hands up in an attempt to get picked (including Kamui and the idiot, Morikawa), even though she had already said it would be randomized. Some people were just that eager to look like fools in front of a crowd, I guessed.

I turned over to see how Aichi was reacting. He was squirming uncomfortable in place, glancing around the crowd of people surrounding us. He looked unquestioningly nervous, acting like a child that got in trouble with their parents and was looking for a place to hide.

"You okay, Aichi?" I asked him. He had a gentle jump at my voice, embarrassed that I had caught him in his state.

He tried to fake a smile. "Oh, i-it's nothing…" he said, twiddling his thumbs anxiously. "I'm just hoping that, whoever they call up there, it won't be me. I don't think… I could deal with people laughing at me, or knowing… certain things about me."

I couldn't help raising an eyebrow at Aichi. Something about the way that Aichi said that put me on edge. I didn't think that Aichi was the kind of person to keep secrets. He always seemed to be such an open person to me. Any question I've ever asked him, he answered with no hesitation (not that I ask him much, admittedly). And then, I find out there's things that he kept to himself? I was curious, to say the least.

"Such as…?"

His cheeks lit up like a Christmas tree at my question. "I-It's nothing… nothing you need to know about…" he whispered, almost inaudible with the crowd's excitement. Practically on cue, as if to emphasize that Aichi was hiding something from me, the lights in the gymnasium all shut off at once.

An overhead light was turned on, and began to wave around like a strobe light in search of the Hypnotist's victim. As it did, I was filled with a drive to know what secrets that Aichi was keeping from me. I wanted to know everything about him, and why he felt the need to keep 'certain things' away from me. Normally I wouldn't have cared if someone was keeping a secret from me, but I just couldn't stand the fact that it was Aichi of all people. I couldn't explain why.

I grabbed hold of his shoulders, forcing his attention on me. His eyes widened at the sudden movement and being forced to lock eyes with me. "Aichi, why are you hiding things from me?" I asked bluntly, ignoring the light passing over us. "There's no reason to keep anything from me. If it involves me, then I have a right to know. Does it?"

I could feel his nervous shaking growing stronger through my hands, but still my grasp remained firm. He tried desperately to look away, not to face me. He seemed scared to even talk about this to me, given his volume. "W-Well, kind of… but it really isn't-"

"I don't care. If it involves me, I deserve to know! Tell me, Aichi, what is it?"

Why was I so angry? What did Aichi not want me to know? Was he doing something behind my back that he was ashamed of me knowing about? Would it upset me? Hurt me? Shock me? Those were only a few of the thousands of questions that were running through my mind at that moment. I knew I was being pushy, and a bit out of character, but I could only think about why Aichi would keep anything from my knowledge.

We stood there for what felt like a year, but in reality was only a few seconds. I stared Aichi down vigorously, but he did everything possible to keep his eyes looking anywhere but at me. I don't know what snapped inside of me, but I was driven to grab hold of each side of his face and lock his sights on me. I wasn't going to have him trying to avoid the subject when I was being this serious. "Look at me, Aichi. I don't know what it is that your trying to keep from me, but there's not a thing in this world you can tell me that I won't be okay with. Even if it's something bad, I can help you through it. Please, tell me, Aichi… I get worried when you don't talk to me."

I could see another flash of fear running through his eyes, yet it was somehow mixed with… hope. That was it, hope. As if he was praying for a Heal trigger in a cardfight, but was afraid he wouldn't get it. I could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks and making them warm. Small tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. I was thrown through a loop when he raised his hands to cover mine. I felt them trembling, but they were still comfortingly warm as well.

"T-Toshiki… do you promise that… you won't get mad? That, no matter what I say… you'll always be my friend? That you'll always be there for me?"

"Of course. You can always trust me, Aichi."

I watched Aichi's lips part, ever so slowly, while his flushing cheeks never left my attention, even in the darkness of the room. I felt like he was actually going to open up to me, let me into whatever world that he was trying to keep hidden from me and everyone else...

And then the light, the one that was waving around randomly, just happened to stop directly over the two of us. I saw the way the limelight illuminated his scruffy blue locks, making them shine like nothing else. It made Kou's hair look like trash compared to his. The light also helped me to focus on his large, turquoise eyes, and realize for the first time just how deep and truly beautiful they really were. I felt like I was looking into two crystal-clear pools of aquamarine, absolutely flawless and pure and shining like gemstones. It was enough to make my heart inexplicably skip a beat.

The beauty didn't last long, however, as those eyes were soon filled with a paralyzing fear of realization, knowing that it was him that had been chosen by the light to be the Hypnotist's volunteer. It was enough to make him jump out of my grasp and cover his mouth, as if to stop himself from crying out in dismay and probably praying that it was shining on me instead of him. The light moved again, focusing on Aichi solely.

"Congratulations, Aichi Sendou!" Miss Mystery said through her microphone, her cheerful voice once again echoing throughout the gymnasium. "The light has chosen you, so come on up here so we can all have a good time!" Despite her positive demeanor, Aichi's nerves were still getting the better of him and causing his breathing to go in and come out in short, disrupted pants. Almost hyperventilating, even.

I could hear some of the boys in the crowd snickering to themselves or each other. They were muttering about how funny it was going to be to see "the little blue shrimp" make an idiot out of himself. I would have told them to keep their opinions to themselves, but Aichi needed my help.

"Aichi, you don't have to do this," I said. My voice seemed to bring his ragged breath to a standstill. He looked up at me with that pleading face that he always makes when he needs something, and at that moment, he needed me. "No one can make you go up there. Let's just leave. We can go hang out at Card Capital."

I tried to grab hold of his wrist so that I could take him and leave the party – I honestly had had enough of the crowd of obnoxious brats, and I didn't want to give Kou an opportunity to strike at Aichi when I couldn't help him – but he pulled away, even shook his head at me. I was surprised to see him actually crack a smile. "N-No… that's alright," he said. "I-I think… I'm ok to do this. I don't mind it that much anymore… I was just shocked that the light picked me of all people, that's all."

I was surprised to hear him say that. Not five minutes prior, he was shaking like a leaf in the wind at the thought of getting chosen to do this, and then he's all for it? I couldn't help wondering if what I said had any significance in Aichi's behavior, but I let it slide. I shrugged and tucked my hands in my pockets. "Alright, but if I see anything suspicious I'm going up there and dragging you down if I have to."

I don't know when I became so protective of Aichi, but it was clear to me that he truly appreciated it. My words brought a bright smile to his face, and his cheeks were once again flushed. "Thank you, Toshiki," he said to me

I watched him turn his back to me as he made his way to the stage. The rest of the students stepped to the side and cleared a path for him, leading straight to the stage. I followed him to stand at the front, just as Misaki and the others had done earlier.

I expected Aichi to be wobbling nervously as he walked, just putting up a brave front for everyone, and he was a bit shaky, but aside from that he walked up proudly. Even from behind him, I could tell that his smile hadn't fallen. He walked up the provided steps, stepped onto the stage, and faced the crowd wholeheartedly. There was still anxiety in his eyes, but he took a deep breath and smiled back at them. The crowd began to cheer lightly for the show that was about to begin.

"Okay then, let's get started!" Mystery exclaimed excitedly, snapping her fingers. Two stage hands brought out a small, foldable chair and placed it next to her, facing to the side. "Aichi, I'm going to need you to sit in this chair and relax so that I can put you under. As for everyone in the crowd, I'm going to need absolute silence for this to work."

Aichi nodded, taking a seat as told, placing his hands on his lap, just as the crowd had died down completely. He took one last deep breath to calm himself down. Mystery held up a small silver pocket watch to Aichi's face and began swinging it from side to side. Aichi's eyes followed its movements.

"Aichi, focus on my watch. Relax and empty your mind. Forget all thoughts. Think of nothing but the watch swinging from side to side, and my voice." Her soothing voice had already begun to work wonders on Aichi. I could see the tension in his body slowly melting away. "My voice is the only one you need to listen to. You will obey my every command, never defy my will. My voice will guide you on this journey that we'll take together."

Aichi nodded slowly, keeping his eyes locked on the item swinging in front of him. Mystery continued to sooth him into a trance with her voice, and it only took about a minute for it to take effect. When she said that Aichi's eyelids were going to feel heavy, I could see them starting to resist falling down over his eyes. They fluttered for a short while, fighting to stay open, but eventually they gave and dropped, and soon after Aichi's head fell limp. He had gone completely unconscious.

Mystery put away her watch and grinned at the audience. "He's under!" she whispered into the microphone. "Now allow me to show you my hypnotic prowess." She turned back to Aichi. "Aichi, tell me, what clan do you use in Vanguard?"

She put the microphone just under his mouth. Aichi never moved a muscle from his slump, nor did his eyes open, but he could still speak. His voice was groggy as he spoke, and barely audible. "…Paladins… Royal and… Shadow..."

"I see. So, you should be familiar with the unit named Wingal, correct?"

Aichi nodded.

"Okay. I'm going to snap my fingers at the count of three, and when I do, you will no longer be Aichi Sendou, you'll be transformed into Wingal, and I'll be your trainer, High Dog Breeder, Akane. You'll obey my every command without hesitation or question. When I snap my fingers again, you'll go back to sleep, and become Aichi Sendou once more. Do you understand?"

Aichi nodded again.

Mystery smirked, holding up three fingers to the crowd, pulling each one back as she counted back. "Three… two… one…" When she reached one finger, she then proceeded with a snap. "Wake up, Wingal!"

Aichi popped his head up abruptly. He blinked several times in confusion, staring out into the crowd as if he didn't know that there was one until then. The crowd remained as silent as Aichi did, waiting for him to show some sort of sign of being truly hypnotized into believing he was Wingal.

Then, it happened.

He jumped to the floor and stood on all fours, his torso much closer to the ground than his rear. He growled defensively, albeit not very intimidatingly, getting ready to pounce if necessary. He let out a loud, high-pitched bark, one that was akin to a Wingal's bark, and watched in silent confusion as the crowd burst into laughter. Even his friends had a good laugh at him, but not offensively. Some of the girls started to gush at how cute he looked, acting like a puppy almost, but I did my best to ignore them.

At the sound of the laughter, Aichi lowered himself to the floor on his forearms and knees with his chin touching the ground, acting like a dog that was afraid of punishment. He started to whimper slightly, which only excited the crowd further and made the girls squeal in delight. Even I had to admit that Aichi acting pretty cute up there, and I couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to go up there and scratch behind his ear.

"Here, Wingal!" Mystery said, holding up some sort of small plastic sword between her fingers. Aichi turned his head to face her, sitting up with his arms down in front of him. "Don't you want your favorite toy?" she asked, using the sort of taunting and teasing voice a dog owner would use with their dog.

Aichi's eyes lit up, his mouth breaking into a happy and excited smile. "Arf!" he barked, running on all fours in Mystery's direction. He stopped in his tracks when she put her hand up commandingly.

"Stay," she said. Aichi stayed put, lying back into the same scared position he was in moments ago. "Rollover." She pretended through the knife in one direction, making Aichi roll across his back in that direction and stop on his stomach again. "Again." She did the same thing, but threw in the opposite direction, making Aichi roll back to where he had started at. The constant motion had made Aichi tired and caused him to pant. "Good boy!" Mystery held the knife out to him, and Aichi grabbed it with his teeth while Mystery scratched him behind the ear, making Aichi kick his leg excitedly.

She was treating him less like Wingal and more like a dog. The crowd didn't seem to mind, however, as they were all either laughing at or with Aichi, or they were fawning over him like he was a newborn puppy. What baffled me more than that, or how could be so easily manipulated with nothing more than a simply pocket watch, was that he was willing to let it happen when he knew exactly what he was getting into. Even after I've been around Aichi for so long now, I had never seen him volunteer to be put in front of a crowd that was going to do nothing but make fun of him. He can endure some heckling if a crowd favors an opponent in a cardfight, but ignoring Mystery being like the puppet master, it was all Aichi up there. I guessed that his shell had finally cracked open. I didn't think that it was any of my doing, but I still felt really proud of him for it.

I flinched when I felt a hand suddenly tap on my shoulder. I turned my head quickly to see Misaki standing next to me with a smile on her face. "He's really changed, hasn't he?"

I raised an eyebrow at her question. "Pardon?"

"Aichi. He's changed so much since I first met him," she elaborated. We watched Mystery put Aichi back into a trance by snapping her fingers. "Back when he first walked into Card Capital, you couldn't pay him to do something like this. He knew that he'd be making a fool of himself, and he still went up there anyway."

As Aichi was given more commands by Mystery to act like different Vanguard units, giving him a prop for each one, I found myself agreeing with Misaki. "You're right. I don't know what's gotten into him."

"What's gotten into him is you, Kai. He respects you so much that he's always trying to be more assertive like you are; more open with himself to others; to try and not let others bother him and make him feel small."

When Misaki spoke of how much Aichi had changed, I thought back to when he had slapped Kou. That event would have been unthinkable when we first met – it was still baffling now to say the least – but I couldn't say that Aichi would never do something like that anymore. He's gotten so much stronger, not just as a cardfighter but as a person, and he's willing and able to protect what's precious to him if he feels it being threatened. I could honestly say that that is something about Aichi that I admire.

My train of thought had brought me back to Kou, and how she had yet to get her revenge on Aichi. I looked around restlessly for her in the crowd but I still couldn't see her. "Have you seen Kou since our fight ended?" I asked Misaki.

Misaki seemed surprised by my question. "No, I haven't… What happened between her and Aichi anyway? She seemed furious when I passed her."

I gave her a brief explanation of what had happened. Needless to say that she was as shell-shocked as I was. After explaining as much as I was able to, we agreed to split up and try to find Kou and make sure whatever she was doing didn't happen. We had no idea what she was planning, but if she was going to get revenge on Aichi she would do before the end of the show. She had the perfect opportunity to strike; Aichi was defenseless in his state, and everyone in his school would witness whatever it was. I wasn't about to let that happen.

I tore through the crowd in search of the blonde, but with no such luck. I didn't bother asking the other kids, especially the boys, because I knew how loyal they were to their Queen Bee, and I didn't want to tip her off that I was looking for her. I ignored Aichi acting like King of Knights, Alfred and swinging around a big sword that was like Alfred's. I ignored the crowd's cheers and laughter. I ignored everything but my thoughts on finding Kou and making sure that she didn't touch a single hair on Aichi's head.

I still couldn't figure out why I was so protective of Aichi, or why I wanted to hold him in my arms and keep him safe from the rest of the world. We were friends, but I was acting like I was his bodyguard; like my sole mission in life was to make certain he was safe. I could have shrugged it off as just being a good friend, but it felt like it was more than that.

I continued to search, but I found myself comparing my friendship with Aichi to that of Miwa. I've known Miwa a lot longer than Aichi. Both were accustomed to my anti-social attitude, but Aichi had kept trying to break me of that habit while Miwa only accepted it. Both enjoyed my company, but Aichi made an effort and fought hard for it while Miwa basically just tagged along to wherever I went. Both love Vanguard as much as I do, and I love playing it with both of them, but Aichi gave me more of a challenge. Even though I have more history with Miwa, I clearly favored Aichi, but I still couldn't figure out why. Why did I enjoy having Aichi by my side to the point that I almost needed it? Why did I like to see him smiling at me? Why couldn't I stop myself from bending over backwards to make sure he wasn't put in harm's way? What were the feelings I had toward Aichi Sendou that differed so greatly from Taishi Miwa?

If I had spent one more second thinking about it, I might have gone into an awkward conversation with myself, but my thoughts went blank when I spotted Kou standing at the front of the crowd. She had her arms crossed over her overly-developed chest, and a devious smirk across her face. She stood in place patiently, almost as if she was waiting for something to happen. That was exactly what I was afraid of.

I bulldozed my way through the crowd, ignoring the complaints and annoyed groans I got from people I shoved out of my way. I didn't care. My only thought at the time was "keep Aichi safe at all costs!"

When I finally got close enough for her to hear me, I shouted her name abruptly. It startled a handful of the nearby students, making them flinch or jump back at the sound of my voice, but Kou needed only glance over her shoulder to confirm who was yelling at her. Her expression remained the same when she saw that it was me, and then turned back to look at the stage.

"Toshiki Kai…" she responded with a neutral tone in her voice. "Did you need something? I'm trying to enjoy the show right now."

I walked around the students between us and stood in front of her, my feet planted firmly to keep her focus on me. She tried to look around me, but I kept shifting to stay in her way.

After a minute of trying, she finally huffed and placed her hand on her hip. "What do you want, Kai?"

"I know you have something planned to get revenge on Aichi, so whatever it is you better call it off. End of discussion."

"Why? Afraid I might do something to embarrass your boyfriend?"

I was taken aback at her choice of words. I felt my breath grow short for a brief moment at the thought of Aichi being my lover, but tried to conceal it. My focus was on Kou, not my relationship with Aichi. "Aichi isn't my boyfriend, Kou. He's just a friend."

She stared at me with a frustrated glare. "Oh save it. Do you really think I was born yesterday? I know you're dating Sendou, so you can come out of that damned closet! Who else could make that little dweeb slap _me_ of all people! You might have fooled me and everyone else with that punk-ass attitude, but Sendou didn't have a prayer at hiding it. He couldn't have been anymore obvious if he had been literally walking around on fire!"

"What are you talking about? Walking around on-…" Then I got what she was implying, and I think my heart almost stopped. "…You seriously think Aichi and I are gay?"

I could take it if she thought I was gay. I honestly didn't care what the kids of this school thought of me. It would be a bit of a blessing in disguise, because it would mean that all the girls would stop hitting on me every two seconds. What really threw me through a loop was that she thought Aichi was gay. I knew that he can be a bit girlish sometimes, and a bit shy and timid, but that didn't automatically make him gay…

…did it?

Kou's expression changed. Her eyes widened, blinking several times in sequence, and her face stretched into a look of confusion. She pointed lazily at me with one finger. "Wait… you really haven't figured it out?"

"Figured what out?"

Kou remained silent for a moment, so much so that I was about to reintegrate my question, but then suddenly she burst into laughter. I knew it wasn't at the show because I could hear in the background that Mystery had just put Aichi back under, declaring that she would now be doing some sort of grand finale, so I knew it was at me.

"O-Oh my god!" she exclaimed, gasping for breath from laughing so hard. "Y-You're… You're seriously _that_ blind? Holy crap! I think I definitely dodged a bullet with you, haha!"

She continued to laugh her heart out, and I just stood there confused. I couldn't imagine what she was going on about. Even if she was right, and Aichi was gay, it still wasn't as funny as she made it out to be. I wouldn't mind if he was, either. Miwa was gay, and the only thing that irritated me about him was that overbearing personality. Aichi was my friend, and his sexual interests doesn't change my opinion of him.

Even knowing that, there was a certain giddiness bubbling up in my stomach at the thought that Aichi being gay…

Kou took a deep breath to calm herself down. She patted me on the shoulder teasingly. "Thanks, Kai, I needed a good laugh," she said with a smile. "But seriously, if you're that interested in my revenge, then pay close attention to what my friend Masumi is about to get him to say. I doubt you can stop it now, though."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Masumi…?"

"Aichi, I just need you to answer one question and then I'll take you out of your trance: who is the one person that you _love_ more than anything?"

Mystery's voice and the sound of the audience's awes of intrigue made me snap my neck back at the stage and pay attention to the show. Aichi was lazily staring at Mystery, eyes half-open and still in a trance. Still, he was subtly shaking, as if he was using all of his willpower to resist answering her question.

After thinking about it, it didn't take long for me to analyze just what Kou had planned. "Miss Mystery" was obviously an alias for Kou's friend, Masumi. To help her achieve her goal of paying Aichi back for embarrassing and threatening her, she got Masumi to make sure that Aichi was the one to get hypnotized. Then, she'd have him act like a fool, and then reveal something deeply personal to the entire school. More specifically, who he loved.

"Liberate yourself, Aichi! Scream out at the top of your lungs the name of the person you want to spend the rest of your life with! Who do you want to grow old with? Have kids with? Wake up every morning and see them looking into their eyes? Who are you in love with? Tell the world, Aichi!"

I didn't have time to think, and yet, as I completely disregarded Kou and ran as fast as I could, I couldn't help wondering who it could be that Aichi was in love with. No one, not even his friends or myself, knew that Aichi was in love with someone, much less who it was. He was so shy and reserved that I wasn't surprised that no one knew. I was curious, but he obviously didn't want anyone to know and I respect that. That was what made Kou's revenge perfect.

I dashed up the steps and ran onto the stage. A few people in the crowd gasped at my actions but I really didn't care. My focus was on waking Aichi up before he spoke. Say he was gay, and he was in love with some guy – maybe some guy from his school – Kou had no right to expose that, and I'd be damned if I let it happen.

"Toshiki Kai?" Masumi questioned. "What are you-"

"Wake him up, Masumi. Now." I said bluntly. I could hear my voice reverberating through the microphone in her hand, but I couldn't have cared less. "I'm taking him home. You have no right to ask him-"

"I… I love…"

Aichi's voice made my blood run cold. This was bad. He was close to talking. I knew that I couldn't wake him up, so it needed to be Masumi. She needed to wake him up quickly. I didn't want him to get outted, much less out himself, to his entire grade if he wasn't doing it willingly.

I grabbed Masumi by the shoulders and began to shake her violently. "Masumi, wake him up or so help me I'll-!"

It was too late, however, because Aichi's willpower had finally given way to Masumi's commands. He finally spoke, his voice carrying the name of the one he admired. What he had said would be forever remembered by everyone in the building, but none would be as traumatized as himself or me…

"I'M IN LOVE WITH TOSHIKI KAI~!"

-x~X~x-

And there it is… Aichi-chan was forced to admit that he's in love with Toshiki in front of his entire grade, and from there on began a whirlwind of hell that has brought Aichi's life crashing down around him. It was what made him the target of Morikawa's incessant bullying; what made Izaki admit to Aichi that he was 'just like him;" what had caused Toshiki and Aichi to avoid each other like the plague…

I have to admit that I had a bit of difficulty writing this. It all seemed so long, much more so than I had anticipated. But I'm glad to finally have finished this one! And just for the record, it is amazingly easy to touch it up with a buzz going on, haha! XD

The inspiration of this scene came from my Safe Grad party a few years back. They, too, brought in a hypnotist and had several people admit who they liked. I wasn't selected (THANK GOD!), but it got me thinking: What would happen if I was chosen? There was a guy that I was in love with back then (he was the Mr. Popular type that literally everyone loved), and I knew that if I was asked to go up, then I would have blurted his name out to everyone. I wasn't in the closet at the time, but I still didn't want to have to say it to everyone in my grade and put a huge target on my back for all the homophobes. That's why I decided to play it out through Aichi-chan.

The next chapter will actually NOT be in Kai's perspective (yay! I'm so sick of his POV at this point and I'm sure you guys are too), and instead will be in Miwa's for once! Can't wait to get started! See you guys next time! KAICHI FOREVER!

 ** _SPOILER ALERT!_** You're gonna see Miwa's inner dark side pretty soon!


	9. Chapter 9: Taishi Miwa

Uh oh… It's… D-D-D… Dark Miwa!

I would say Yandere Miwa, but Aichi isn't gonna die by his hands (at least I hope not!). Also, Kai is gonna be a bit OOC for this one, but that's mostly because, other than after his fight with Ren in season 1, I don't believe Kai has ever been so emotionally damaged that it would bring him to such a break down, at least not enough that he'd cry about it. But after this chapter, I may have to make Kai into a bit more of a crybaby, haha!

Chapter 9, brought to us by the Kagero Copycat and goofy but adorable blonde, Taishi Miwa!

-x~X~x-

It's not fair. It just isn't fair. I loved him first. I've loved him longest. I love him more… I love him so much, and for so long…

And yet, somehow, that little twerp has managed to sneak his way into Kai's heart. The heart that should belong to me… I hate him for that. I hate Aichi Sendou! He took away the one thing in this world I wanted most and he damned-well knew it!

Kai showed up at Card Capital about ten minutes ago. I thought maybe the party had ended early, and he was here to hang out with me instead of Aichi, but not after I got a look at him. One glance into his eyes, drowned in sadness and stained red and puffy from tears, told me that something was definitely wrong. He looked like he had run all the way from the school, face and clothes drenched in sweat and completely out of breath. He looked like he had just run away from a terrifying monster, because the second he walked into the store he dropped to his hands and knees and started shaking uncontrollably. I have never seen him so weak and vulnerable.

For lack of a better word, he looked absolutely broken.

I asked him what was wrong. He had a tough time speaking, however. His throat was swollen from his apparent crying and he was still trying to choke back a few sobs. He explained everything that went on at the party, about the tournament, about Kou Amegakure, about the hypnotist that turned out to be Kou's best friend, and how Aichi had been forced into outing himself and telling everyone that he…. he loves Kai… It hurts to even think about it, honestly.

Aichi's hypnosis state apparently wore off the second he declared his feelings for Kai, according to him. Aichi was aware of the last thing he said while he was under, and looked to Kai in hopes that his feelings would be reciprocated, but Kai was too shocked to even speak at the time. He couldn't find anything to say, his voice had gone just when he needed it most, so he turned tail and ran. He left the school and just kept running, not even bothering to look where. He said that he ended up here at Card Capital purely by coincidence…

Or maybe it was fate…

The shop is empty, save for the two of us. Shin is still out picking up his order but he should be back shortly. I sat Kai down at a table and gave him some water to help calm him down.

He then went on to explaining everything that's been running through his mind for the last week up until this point. How he was always giddy whenever Aichi was smiling at him. How he went to extraordinary lengths to protect Aichi from anything that would hurt him. How he wanted nothing more than to hold Aichi in his arms and never let him go.

All the things I wished he would do for and feel about me…

"So, Miwa…" Kai says, finally having a smooth voice since walking in. He still looks like he's fighting back a few tears, though. "What do you think?"

What do I think? …I think he does love Aichi. Incredibly so, even. Every feeling he has about Aichi, I have about him. I think he hasn't felt love in the slightest since his parents died and, because it's all rushing back at once, he's completely forgotten how it feels. That's why he can't tell what kind of connection he has with Aichi. He loves Aichi, he just doesn't know it for sure…

But like hell I'm actually gonna tell him that.

"Well, for starters…" I begin. "It seems like your open to the idea of a gay relationship. And I've met Amegakure before at one of the shop tournaments, and any straight guy would have jumped at the chance to have her crawling all over them. So… do you think you're gay?" I'm trying to stall for time so I can think of some way to spin this in my favor. It was one thing when he wasn't interested in guys, but… if he thinks he loves Aichi and wants to be in a relationship with him, and not a girl, then that gives me a tiny sliver of hope. I can't let Aichi take that hope away from me, and I'll be damned if I do!

"I honestly don't care what my orientation is, Miwa," he says softly, letting his shoulders fall. "Gay, straight, bi, pan, whatever you want to call it. All I know is… I want to be with Aichi, and only Aichi."

"A-Are you sure you're not just flattered that he's into you?" I ask. "I mean, you guys are really close and all, and even if you are suddenly gay that doesn't mean you _have_ to love him back. It could be, like, some sort of pity thing. He was forced to come out to his entire school, remember?"

Kai shakes his head. "No, it's definitely not pity. I felt something like that when you confessed to me, because I didn't reciprocate your feelings, but I didn't feel the same thing when Aichi did. It was more shock than anything. When he said he loved me, and then he looked at me with those eyes, I just… panicked. It was literally such a shock to hear it, and in front of all those people, that I couldn't move my mouth to respond. I couldn't even process my own feelings, let alone his. I ran out of there so I could clear my head, and now that I have…" Please, Kai, don't say it. "I know it now. After everything that went down tonight," PLEASE! "…I'm in love with Aichi, too."

He couldn't possibly imagine what kind of pain his words just put me through, like a thousand bullets shooting right through me. He couldn't have hurt me anymore than if he had taken a knife and stabbed me in the heart and then punched me in the gut, leaving me to die. He might as well have added insult to injury and told me that he hated me, because I don't think it could have hurt me any more than him saying he loved another boy.

"I want to be there for him… to protect him from everything that could harm him. When I heard all those people laughing at him while I was running out, I wanted to turn around and beat the crap out of them all. But I couldn't… my legs just wouldn't stop… God, I feel like such a complete idiot." I think that's something we have in common, Kai…

Aichi Sendou… I hate you. I hate you so much! Kai is the one thing in my life I look forward to each day, the one thing in my life that gives me any sort of hope, and you took him away from me! I waited so long for him to say "I love you" to me, I waited _years_ for him to come back into my life and say it, and you got him saying it about you after one stupid party! I've loved him longer than you have! I love him _more_ than you ever could! I won't let you have him!

"But I really hurt him," Kai says, clenching his fists and pounding the table in frustration. "I promised him that no matter what his secret was… I would always be there for him, and then I ran out of there. Now, knowing him, he's probably hidden somewhere, curled up in a ball and crying his eyes out. He probably hates my guts right now for abandoning him back there… I left right when he needed me most."

I doubt what Kai is saying is true. Knowing Aichi, he's probably giving himself one hell of a guilt trip over letting himself spill the beans and blames himself for his feelings for Kai. Odds are, he still loves Kai and, more than likely, hates himself for chasing him away… Again, another thing I'm not going to mention.

"Well, I don't think there's anything you can do about it," I say. "Maybe you should just… stay away from him for a while. Give both of you some time to calm down."

"And let the kids of that school bully the crap out of him again?" he says sarcastically. He stands up from the table and pushes the chair away. "I need to go see him, if nothing else to apologize for running away on him."

I watch painfully as he makes his way to the door. If I let him leave now, I may not get another chance to be with Kai, and god knows that's all I ever wanted. The second he gets back to Hitsue, I know for a fact that Aichi will forgive him in a heartbeat. Kai is the biggest Tsundere I know, but even he won't keep his recent epiphany to himself when he sees Aichi's big, stupid, pleading eyes. He'll tell Aichi, Aichi will repeat his own confession, they'll hug, apologize over and over to each other… oh god, they might even…

…kiss…

…LIKE HELL I'M LETTING THAT HAPPEN!

"Wait!" I yell completely on impulse. "Um… why don't you let me… call ahead for you? I mean, Aichi might have gone home… I certainly wouldn't want to stay there after going though all that."

Kai stops in place. "Um… okay…"

I fish my cell phone out of my pocket. I point to the stock room behind me. "I'm just gonna go… take it in the back room. I'll let you have a moment to yourself to… think about what your gonna say. I'll call Misaki and see if Aichi's there or not."

Kai crosses his arms and gives me a skeptical glare. "Alright, but be quick." He takes a seat at a table and crosses his legs. I nod and run into the back room as fast as I can, shutting the door tightly behind me. I press my back to the door to make sure Kai didn't open the door while I was talking. I do NOT want him hearing what I'm about to do…

I'm gonna make Aichi pay, so much so that he'll be reduced to nothing. I don't give a rat's ass if he was just humiliated in front of his entire school. He deserves every ounce of torture that's about to befall him. He stole Kai's heart right out from under me, and I want him to suffer. I want him to feel like his entire purpose in life is to be nothing more than a walking target. I want him to spend every waking second of his life in misery, and when he goes to sleep I want even his dreams to betray him! And I know exactly how to do it…

I dial in Morikawa's number and hold the phone up to my ear. A few seconds pass and Morikawa picks up. I can hear a bit of music in the background, albeit muffled, so I guess Aichi's little slip-up didn't exactly kill the mood of the party.

 _"Hello? Miwa? Oh my god, you're not gonna believe what happened over here! Aichi just-"_

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Kai came right over here to Card Capital and told me everything," I say. "Morikawa, you still want that Grade 3 card off of me, right? The new one that you've been hounding me about?"

 _"Dude! Of course!"_

"Then listen carefully, because if you do everything I'm about to tell you to than the card is yours."

Morikawa groans irritably. _"I'm not too fond of taking orders from anyone who's cardfight levels are so beneath me…"_ I'd love nothing more than to punch him in the face whenever he says something like that. _"But I need that Grade 3! It could be the most important one I'll ever get! So, just this once, I'll do what you say."_ God, he is so easy…

"Good. Are you alone?"

 _"Yeah, I'm in the bathroom at school. No one else is here. What's so important that you need me of all people to do it? I have better things to do than-"_

"I need you to make Aichi's life miserable."

 _"Okay, that sounds- Wait, what?"_

"Anytime you see Aichi, do anything you can to make him cry. Prank him, bully him, insult him, I don't care. Pile onto his humiliation of his outing and do whatever you can to make sure he hates himself and his life. Don't stop until I either tell you to or his spirit is shattered."

 _"Man, what the hell? Are you a freakin' homophobe or something, or did someone shove a giant stick up your ass?!"_ If only he did, Morikawa, I might not be this bitter…

"Why is unimportant. If you want the card, then do what I say and turn Aichi's life into a living hell."

 _"Miwa, I'm not gonna hurt Aichi for some stupid, homophobic grudge! He's gone through hell and back tonight. He may not be the caliber of cardfighter that I am, but still that's no reason for his teacher to-"_

"MORIKAWA, DO IT OR I SO HELP ME I'LL SEND IT THROUGH THE PAPER SHREDDER!" I scream. I didn't mean to make it that loud, but I was getting sick of this douchebag getting on my nerves. He's the only one of Aichi's friends I can even consider making himself an enemy.

 _"N-No, don't do it! I really need that card! It's for-… uh…"_

"I don't give a damn if you wanna wipe your ass with it. Just do what I say! Make Aichi a living target for everyone or it'll be scrap for the bottom of a bird cage!"

 _"…Alright, I'll do it. Just… keep that card in good condition until I'm done. It's really important…"_

I smirk. "Of course… But, if you tell anyone about this, I can't guarantee its safety, so keep this between us."

He groans through the phone. _"Dammit, alright already! But just know I'm not gonna beat him up or anything. I'm not going to jail for assault because of you."_

"As long as he's crying and hating himself, I don't care. …Say, where is Aichi anyway?"

 _"Oh. Hm… I think he and Izaki are having some sort of heart-to-heart thing, I'm not sure. After Kai ran off like a little scaredy cat, Aichi started crying and ran in the other direction. We all searched everywhere for Aichi, but Izaki was the only one who found him. He sent me a text saying he found him and was talking things out with him in the janitor's closet."_ Two gay guys in the closet? Ha! How ironic! I almost laugh at the thought.

"And what did you say?"

 _"I didn't get a chance to send a reply. Right when I was about to say 'okay', you called."_

"In that case, don't say anything to him until they come out of there. And then when they do…" I chuckle sadistically at my thought. "…tell him that Kai hates him. Kai is repulsed by his very existence now that he knows the truth. He thinks Aichi is a disgusting and horrible human being, and he wants Aichi to jump into a hole and die. And say that you agree with it all."

 _"Miwa… is all of that true? Like, Kai honestly hates Aichi?"_

"Who cares if its true? Just tell him! Oh! And be sure to take a picture of his face when you do. I wanna see the little twerp's face scrunched up in despair at the thought of the person he loves hating him."

 _"Man… that's really dark…"_

"Thank you. Now go."

 _"Alright… I guess I'll talk to you later."_

"Have fun!"

As I end the call, I can't help sinisterly laughing to myself. Morikawa is too freakin' easy to manipulate. One Grade 3 he doesn't have and he'll balance a ball on his nose for it. I once got him to run around town with no pants to get a copy of General Seifried off of me. It was so funny, seeing him wearing boxers with Kourin's picture all over them (Where did he even get those?), that I gave him two copies just for the laughs. I even gave Izaki a card that day too, because he had blood practically gushing from his nose at the sight of his crush walking around proudly, half-naked and I got a good laugh at that too.

I swear, if he thinks he's hiding his feelings for Morikawa, or even his orientation in general, he's nuts!

Anyone else would never go against Aichi if I asked them to, no matter how I choose to extorted them. Morikawa, on the other hand, is more of a neutral third party than a friend to Aichi. He is so narcissistic that he thinks everyone, even Aichi, is below him, and only thinks of him as an entourage that's lucky enough to be around him. One little nudge in the right direction and he'll turn his back on anyone for a half-decent Grade 3.

There is one thing that puzzles me, though…

The card he's after is Ancient Dragon, Spinodriver, a Tachikaze unit. Morikawa, admittedly, _has_ been improving his deck, and narrowing it down to only a single clan, Spike Brothers. It's still loaded with too many Grade 3s, don't get me wrong, but at least he's focused on a single clan to make the triggers work. Not only does he not even like the Tachikaze clan (he has almost no Grade 3s of them, no matter how good they are, and constantly says that he hates the idea of his Grade 3s destroying one another), but its also one of the recently released Break Ride units, meaning only a Tachikaze riding on top of it will trigger its effect. I don't know if that means he's switching clans or something, but whatever gets him to do what I need then power to him.

Now, I'm gonna have to bullshit my way to getting Kai to think Aichi hates him. Kai isn't easily deceived, but in his emotionally damaged state, I think I can do it. He's so desperate to be with Aichi that its probably the only thing on his mind. It may hurt him a bit, but I can live with that. If I can't have Kai, then no other guy can either. Especially Aichi.

I'm just gonna tell Kai that Misaki said Aichi wants nothing to do with him anymore. That he hates him. I'll watch him fall to bits at the thought of Aichi hating his guts, and then I'll be there to pick up the broken pieces of his heart. Maybe, if I'm lucky enough, he might realize he has feelings for me, too…

I open the door to go back into the shop, but as soon as I do I feel a hard fist collide with my left cheek and sending me flying into a shelf behind me. I feel a sharp pain in both my cheek and my back as I fall to the floor. As I hold a hand to my throbbing cheek, a box of card packs falls off of the shelf and pours out on top of me.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

I'm scared to look up at who punched and yelled at me, because I'm praying that it's not Kai, but I do anyway out of curiosity. My fears were confirmed, because Kai was standing there with his arm extended, a fist at the end of it. His breathing was raged, angrily seething. I don't dare look in his eyes, however. I know Kai's hateful glare, and I'm not sure I can handle it pointed at me.

"You heard…?" I ask cautiously, keeping my gaze down at the dozens of card packs in front of me. I notice that they are from the Demonic World Invasion expansion, with a picture of Gwynn the Ripper on it.

"Damn right I heard!" Kai yells at me. "The second you screamed Morikawa's name I knew you were up to something, so I listened in. I can't believe you would do something like that, telling Morikawa to make Aichi miserable! As if he isn't miserable enough with what just happened! Do you even remember how much crap the kid went through growing up? What the hell were you thinking?!"

I don't answer him. I'm too scared to look into his eyes and tell him the truth. I clench my eyes shut and turn away.

"Miwa, answer me!" Kai says. Again, I stay quiet. I don't think I can look into his eyes and not want to cry. "ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!" Next thing I know I'm being hoisted off the ground by my shirt collar and forced to finally face Kai.

I see his eyes… they're filled with a mix of anger, hatred but most of all, he looked unbelievably hurt. It almost seems like there was a fire in his eyes, fueled solely by the intensity of his emotions. I've never seen that look before, not even when the subject of Ren or PSYQualia comes up, or whenever Morikawa becomes simply unbearable. This is a new kind of anger…

…Hatred…

"I… I love you…"

I didn't mean to say it, but it just seemed to slip out. I just didn't want to see those eyes anymore. It through both of us through a loop, I think my heart skipped at beat, but Kai even more so. His eyes widen, and I feel his grip on my shirt loosening. He has this look of terror and remorse all over his face, like my confession had brought back memories of earlier.

"You… what?" The power and drive in his voice had all but dissipated. He seemed almost petrified at the thought.

I gripped onto his wrists, which were barely clinging on to the cloth of my shirt. My cheeks grew warm from the touch. My heart was beating like it wanted to come out of my chest. Tears began to spill from my eyelids as I continued. "I love you… I said I love you, dammit!" I yelled, feeling my throat already beginning to swell. I know I'm about to cry, I just know it, but I honestly don't care. I need to say this! "I love you so much, Kai… so much that it feels like I'm dying inside when I hear you talking about another guy. I-I didn't think I had a shot with you before, because I figured that you were straight, but to find out you're gay and that you love another boy… Do you know how much of a slap in the face that is? I could have probably dealt with it if it was a girl, like Misaki or someone, but what does Aichi have that I don't? Did you, at any point, consider how I might feel if you told me everything like you did?! DID YOU!?"

Kai's grip finally loosens and his arms go limp, and the only thing that keeps them up is the vice grip I have on them. "I-I had… no clue…"

"Of course you didn't… Whenever its me, you never think about how badly you hurt me when you speak. But whenever you speak to Aichi, you pick every word you say with the utmost care. It's only him you watch your mouth around. It's only him that you'll drop everything for, even if that thing is me. I'm lucky if I can extort a shopping day out of you once a week, but all Aichi has to do is bat those cute little eyes at you and you'll do whatever he says. I mean… you went to a freakin' party for crying out loud! I've offered to take you to a million parties since you came back – high school parties at that – and you always said that you couldn't stand parties or people or music or dancing or any of the crap that goes on, and yet you jumped at the chance when Aichi offered it to you. That's why I did what I did. I hate that he gets all of your attention, I'm not letting him off easy for getting your love, too! The love that I've wanted for so long… I can't stand that he got it so easily! I can't stand him! I'm prepared to say I hate him! I don't want him to-"

I'm frozen in place when Kai throws his arms around me. My heart skips a beat when he rests his chin on my shoulders. My breath falls short when his arms start squeezing me so longingly that it gets difficult to breath. I want to hug him back, but having him throw himself at me is almost too bizarre for me even comprehend, much less respond to.

"K-Kai…?"

"I'm so sorry, Miwa," he mumbles, his voice once again ragged and hoarse. "I never knew… just how deeply you cared for me. I-I figured… it was some stupid crush, and you'd get over it in time…"

I find it in me to lift my arms, resting them on Kai's back and gripping the back of his jacket. I feel the tears starting to build up again. "I… never really wanted you to know. I figured you were either straight or asexual or something, so telling you I… I love you… seemed so pointless. And then, hearing you pour your heart out about another guy… it was pure torture…"

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" He slips out of my grasp, which worries me at first, but then he drops to his knees and wraps his arms around my legs, resting his forehead against my stomach. "I'm so, so sorry, Miwa…"

I fell happy. For the first time in a long time, I feel truly and utterly happy. So much so that it was making me cry. I watch tears fall from my chin into Kai's gorgeous brown locks while I place my hands on the back of his head and hold him even closer to me while I took in just what was happening. I have the love of my life on his knees and begging for forgiveness, even after I just blackmailed someone into ruining Aichi's life in a fit of petty rage and jealousy. Even through my clothes, I still feel the warmth of his touch reaching my body, giving me butterflies. I always thought that I would be the one begging him to forgive me for something. The irony is both amusing and uplifting.

…so why does it also feel so wrong.

After a minute or so of both of us crying, Kai stands up. We both wipe away the tears from our eyes. Kai's eyes are even bigger and puffier than before, but I doubt mine are much better. "I… I can't be with Aichi, knowing how you feel for me now…"

I gasp, my mouth widening into a large smile at the implication. "You… You mean you want me…? Like, you want to be _my_ boyfriend? Not Aichi's? All mine!?"

This can't be real. Kai doesn't want to be with Aichi. He wants to be with me! He's finally realized that I'm the only guy that's worth of him. I can't believe this! This is too good to be real!

I go in for another hug, but he puts a palm on my chest to hold me back. "No… I can't be with you either, Miwa."

…I guess it isn't real…

"I don't… understand…" I say. "If you're not gonna be with me, or Aichi, then who…?"

"That's just it. I'm not going out with anyone," he says sullenly, turning around. "It isn't fair to either of you. If I start dating one of you, it'll hurt the other. I can't date the both of you at the same time, so the only logical thing to do is to stay friends with each of you and date no one. I'm sparing both of your feelings."

He can't be serious. Please, God, don't let him be serious. "K-Kai, that's crazy!" I yell. "You honestly think you can go the rest of your life being single?"

"Well what other choice do I have, Miwa!?" Kai yells back, startling me. He turns his neck just enough to look me in the eye. "I can't be with Aichi without breaking your heart, and I can't be with you without breaking Aichi's. Even if I find someone else someday, I'll hurt the both of you equally. I've put both of you through enough as it is, so it's only right that the two of you find someone else that you don't have to fight over!"

Before I have a chance to reply, Kai takes off and runs out of the store as fast as I've ever seen him go. I reach my hand to catch him, even knowing he's too far away for me to grab him. I see him running in the direction of his apartment through the shop window, and he's not stopping. He's going… going…

…he's gone…

I drop to my knees again as the reality settles in, glaring holes into the ground. He's gone. Kai is gone. He left me. He's disappeared into the streets. I told him that I loved him and then he ran out the door as fast as he could to get away from me. Now I know how Aichi feels…

The flash of his name in my mind makes alarm bells go off. All the pain and anger from before came rushing back two-fold. Aichi Sendou… he's the reason for all of this. If he didn't open his god-damned mouth, hell if he had never even existed, then Kai wouldn't have run away. He wouldn't be so emotionally damaged. He wouldn't be locking himself up from the world even more. He wouldn't… he'd be with me… he'd be falling for me instead of him…

"Miwa, what happened in here?"

I look up from the floor to see Shin standing in front of me, a large box in his hands. I guess he just got back from picking up his delivery.

Shin sets the box down on a nearby table and then holds his hand out to me. I take it and he helps me to stand up. "I'm sorry… Kai and I got into a fight," I say quietly, my throat still swollen up from before.

And I'm scared it might be the last fight we have together…

I hear my phone ding in my pocket. I reach for it and open it. I perk up a bit when I see that Morikawa sent me a picture and open it up.

This may just get me through the night. It has to. If I have a picture of Aichi in tears and alone, I may just have the strength to get over this mess. Kai won't be coming back, I know that, but at least I can get some satisfaction in knowing that Aichi's feels as miserable as I do.

The picture finally finishes loading-…the hell?

It's a picture of Aichi, and he's anything but happy. Izaki's holding him a sort of a cradle position, arms wrapped around his neck and Aichi sitting between his legs on the floor, staring furiously at the person taking the picture. Izaki looks pissed as hell, with a bit of shock mixed in. Aichi, however…

He just looks like he's trying to fake a sad face. His fallen expression only looks like he's trying to bullshit his way through the picture just for Morikawa's sake. He might have believed Aichi, but I don't buy it for a second…

-x~X~x-

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuun! The truth has been revealed!

Honestly, it was ridiculously easy to picture a Miwa so jealous over Kai that he'd want to ruin Aichi-chan's life, but it was incredibly hard to put it all into words. They say "Write what you know," but I've never really gotten jealous over someone, especially not this much! I just took every dark, depressing and angry thought I could muster and threw them all into this chapter.

As for Aichi faking a depressed picture, do you guys have any thoughts on why? Do you think it may have something to do with why Aichi doesn't get upset at Morikawa's teasing and tormenting at school? *hint hint* Guess we'll have to find out in the next chapter! See you later guys!


	10. Chapter 10: Taishi Miwa

Sorry for the wait, guys! I had a bit of trouble writing this one. Hopefully it's not too bad! It's shorter than the previous chapters, but it presents a very intense revelation.

Chapter 10, brought to you by the Revenger of Love, Taishi Miwa!

x~X~x

It's been two weeks since the party. Two weeks since I've seen any of my friends. Two weeks since Kai's been to school. Two weeks since the night Kai came running into the card shop and asking me what love was. And two weeks since Kai ran out in a panic when I told him that I loved him…

I glance over at my friend's empty desk, completely drowning out the annoying sound of our teacher's voice, and wondering where he's been. Kai doesn't ditch school. He's often late. He ignores the teachers. He only does the bare minimum of homework not to get thrown out of school. But he never ditches.

Hitsue High doesn't exactly have the better track record on attendance, at least not compared to Miyaji Academy or something, but even they have their limits on when they need to crack down on it. On the third day of school that Kai's been absent without permission, the teacher said that she would have to alert the principle if no one had an explanation, so I started covering for him. I told his teachers that he went on an indefinite vacation with his uncle to Okinawa and wasn't sure when he'd be back. They normally don't believe a story like that unless the parent or guardian comes in to verify it, but… it is Hitsue… and the teachers know how close Kai and I are (usually), so they took my word for it, and they send his work home with me so I can 'send a copy to Kai'.

I haven't seen Kai since our fight, nor have we talked. It feels so weird not talking to the guy that I used to be around ninety-percent of the time. When he never showed up for our shopping day last Sunday, I knew that he was avoiding me. Even if we're mad at each other, we _always_ go shopping together. So I've been more than a little depressed lately.

I tried calling him a few times, but he never picked up. I didn't have the nerve to face him after our fight, so I didn't dare go over to his place. I had to do both of our homework to keep up the charade, using my left hand to do Kai's so no one suspected anything about the identical handwriting. I'm just thankful that Kai's writing is like chicken scratch. It was a ton of work, but I'd do anything to help him out. I love him too much not to help…

Kai… why did you have to run out on me? We could have been so good together-… huh?

A buzz in my pocket draws me out of my slump. Its my phone. Probably another picture from Morikawa of Aichi. Part of me doesn't want to open it, however, because I know that all it's going to do is upset me even more.

No matter what I get Morikawa to do to him, Aichi doesn't crack. I have an entire album on my phone dedicated only to Morikawa's tormenting of Aichi, with over twenty photos, and not one of them is a picture with Aichi crying. He's certainly not happy in any of them, but I don't see why he hasn't burst into tears yet. Morikawa's sent me pictures of Aichi with his pants pulled down, with his face covered in food, and with his ass superglued to his desk, and not a single tear has been shed. I can't think of anything else to bring the twerp to tears!

The curiosity gets the better of me and I pull out my phone, keeping it below the desk to keep it out of the teacher's sights. When I turn it on, I see that Morikawa did send me another picture. I'm certain it won't make me feel any better, but I open it anyway.

It's a picture of Aichi in his gym clothes, a white t-shirt with the school's name on the upper left chest and a pair of navy blue running shorts. His shorts have obviously been shortened, at least by two or three inches, and were showing Aichi's pale, thin, almost girlish legs. If it weren't for the fact that they were blue, one would think he was actually a girl.

Aichi was clearly embarrassed by this picture. His face was bright red, even his ears were tinted pink with humiliation. He was standing awkwardly with his legs clamped together tightly, and he was pulling the hem of his t-shirt down to cover as much of himself as he could. He was embarrassed, but still he wasn't crying… Dammit! What does it take to get through to this kid?

I get another text from Morikawa before I put my phone away.

 _'Am I done now? I can't think of anything else that's gonna upset him! This is getting ridiculous, Miwa! Just get over yourself and give me the damn card already! – Katsumi Morikawa.'_

I'm honestly tempted to tell him to give it up. There's nothing else I can think of that would make him cry him without physically assaulting him, and even I wouldn't go that far. But still, I don't think I'm gonna have any sort of closure with this dilemma until I see Aichi crying. I want to see him broken, after everything he's caused I think I deserve that much. I won't be satisfied until I see Aichi in tears.

…but how can I possibly do that?

"Hey, Miwa, did you hear what happened to Kaoru?" a voice whispers beside me.

I turn to see who it was that was whispering to me, and see it was one of my classmates. Hikari Yamanaka I think was her name.

"Kaoru?" I whisper back. The name sounds familiar, but I can't remember exactly who it is.

"Kaoru Nonaka. The short guy in the class across from ours." …Oh, him!

Now I remember. Kaoru Nonaka from Class 2-B. He's the really short guy that I see walking around school now and then. He's part of the art club. I think I fought him once in a cardfight. He uses an Oracle Think Tank deck, centered around the Battle Sisters.

"Yeah, what about him?" I ask in a whisper.

"Apparently, he tried asking out one of the guys from the art club yesterday." He's gay? …Actually, that's not hard to picture. I got a few gay vibes from him here and there. He always talked in a really high-pitched voice and was ogling the president of the art club every time I saw him. He was pretty cute, kind of like Aichi, but a little bit bolder in terms of personality. "But the art club president is really homophobic. He took a permanent marker and wrote 'Fag' in big bold letters on his forehead, and then kicked him out of the club on the spot."

"Wow, that's a bit harsh. Kaoru seems like such a sweet guy."

"I know. He hasn't been to school for two days. One of his friends, she was in the art club too, even said she saw him crying when the president kicked him out."

…crying?

"Crying… you say?" I ask.

She nods. "Like a baby. Can you blame him, though? The guy he liked practically spit in his face and outted him to everyone of his friends. Lucky for Kaoru though, everyone hates the president and reported him to the principle. He's suspended for two weeks!"

"N-No… I can't blame him at all…"

Obviously I feel really bad for Kaoru. I would hate to be in that position. Not only being rejected, but forcibly being addressed as gay to anyone that sees me. If Kai ever did that to me, I might even consider suicide…

However, that gives me an idea…

I know its mean, low, hypocritical, and honestly downright cruel… but if it'll get Aichi to cry, I don't care.

-x~X~x-

It's been a few hours since I texted Morikawa back, giving him his final task, and I'm just waiting for the reply. The anxiety is killing me to the point I can almost hear my heart pounding to get out of my chest. I want nothing more than for this plan to work, and I've already sold my soul to get it there so it damn-well better.

Torturing Aichi ends today, and if this didn't break the little twerp, then absolutely _nothing_ will! SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE FREAKIN' HELL!? The kid may be small but he's one damn-hard nut to crack! I don't know whether I feel more irritation or envy at his resilience, but either way it puts me in a bad mood whenever I think about it.

The whole thing with Kaoru and the art club president inspired me. Aichi may not cry easily, but being put in Kaoru's position might change things, so I told Morikawa to do exactly what the art club president did: write the word 'Fag' on Aichi's forehead, just like Kaoru had had done to him. I was worried that it might be hard to convince Morikawa to go to such an extreme, but it helps that his English is crap. He didn't even know what the word meant when I told him! So I just said it meant 'loser,' just to soften it up enough to the point he'd do it. I told him to go to whatever means necessary to get it done, and if he succeeds he's done…

Morikawa must really want that Spinodriver card, if he's willing to do all this for it. What I can't figure out is why he would want a card that he can't use. He uses Spike Brothers now, nothing else, and Spinodriver won't be of any use in that deck. He still hordes all of the Grade 3s he pulls in packs, but other than that he wouldn't go out of his way this much for one. Whatever the reason is, he had better get me a picture that'll make me feel better or I'm not coughing up that card.

I'm eating my lunch on the roof of the school, alone, while I wait for Morikawa to get back to me. Kai normally eats with me, and then we play Vanguard for a bit before going back to class for the afternoon but, since he's not here, and I can't really be around the others right now, I've been pretty lonely these last few weeks.

I'm really starting to miss them all, especially Kai. He may be an antisocial dick sometimes, but he does listen to me when I talk, even if it bothers him. He's a great friend…

I still love him. I love him so much. He knows that, too. I want him to be happy, and, in all honesty, I know that he won't be as happy with me as he would be with Aichi. I've accepted the fact that he doesn't want me and he never will… I still need to make Aichi suffer, though, before I can let him go though. I need the satisfaction of knowing that he's reached rock bottom, just like I did, before I can let go of Kai…

I hear my phone beep. That should be Morikawa. Please, let it be another picture. Let it be _the_ picture. The picture that gives me some sort of satisfaction. Please, Morikawa, give me something…

I hesitate to look, afraid that all of this effort – manipulating Morikawa, disconnecting completely from my friends, and torturing someone simply for being in love – has been for naught. But I need to see this. I need to see that Aichi's as sad as I am. So, I open my phone and check the message…

…Oh… Oh god…

It's another picture of Aichi. He's pinned down by a few other guys in Hitsue Middle School uniforms. I see a few small tubes of paint and a handful of paintbrushes scattered across the floor, so I'm assuming that it happened in the school's art classroom. One of the guys that's holding Aichi's arms down also has one hand above Aichi's forehead, pulling his bangs upward. I see exactly what I expected, the word 'fag' written across his forehead in bold, black lettering (albeit printed in fairly crappy writing). In the corners of Aichi's eyes, there are tears. Actual tears. He looked so sad and alone. He had a look of fear in his eyes. No… not just fear, it's something more…

…terror. Almost panic, even. Like he's worried that something even worse is going to happen to him. I don't think… I've ever seen that look before… I didn't want to get _that_ reaction, out of Aichi or anyone, much less be the cause of it…

immediately, I'm flooded with an overwhelming sense of guilt. I got exactly what I wanted, but it doesn't make me feel any better. I knew that I wouldn't be proud of any of this, but I at least expected to feel some form of closure over it. Instead, on top of everything else I've been pushing through, all I can do I feel ashamed for what I did to Aichi…

The reality slowly and painfully sinks in as I feel tears threatening to spill in my eyelids. I've tortured Aichi out of spite, blackmailing a close friend of mine into doing it for me. I've probably turned his whole school against him. I've hurt and abandoned all of my friends to get absolutely nowhere. I feel horrible, almost-… No, I feel even worse than before… before the night Kai ran out of the store and left me. It wasn't entirely my fault that Kai was so emotionally damaged; Kou and that hypnotist dragging the truth out of Aichi had a good deal of the blame too. This one, on the other hand… I really have no one to blame but myself. Everything that's happened to Aichi is because of me and my petty, jealously-fueled need for revenge…

Aichi… Kai… both of them are hurting so much right now. Aichi's picture and Kai's absence from school are proof enough of that. They need someone to lean on… It pains me to say, but they… they need each other…

I need to fix this… All of this. Right now.

-x~X~x-

Ba BAM! That's it! Everything significant to the plotline has been revealed now!

Aichi was outted to his entire school, while Kai has been too traumatized to face either of the people that love him. Miwa got his revenge, soliciting Morikawa into helping him, but he's sunken even deeper into sadness than before…

Now all that remains is the happy-go-lucky-yet-completely-cliché ending! …or does it?

Next chapter, which will either be in Miwa's or Kai's point of view. Haven't decided yet. Let's find out together!


	11. Chapter 11: Taishi Miwa

Now comes time for the big, boring climax of the story where one character comes to a sudden revelation and epiphany about how much they've done wrong and tries to fix it…

Seems pretty cliché, I know, but I'll try to give it a fresh spin this time. So come on, Miwa-kun, let's go on a little adventure and get some help! Maybe we'll take a stroll down memory lane on the way, hehehe!

 _WARNING! Smexiness alert! Intense sexual themes ahead!_

Chapter 11, brought to us by the man without anymore clever nicknames, Taishi Miwa!

-x~X~x-

"You just made this too easy."

Before I can even respond, Jun throws his chain at me and somehow gets to wrapped around both of my wrists, almost like shackles. I try to shake them off, but its too tight.

Jun waves his hand at his lackeys. "Beat it. Go find Kai. Tear the city apart if you have to. If I get any information out of this guy, I'll text you."

"Yes, sir!" they all say in unison, then run off in all directions into the city. The only ones left are me and Jun.

This can't be happening. I came down here to keep Kai away from these thugs! Now, I'm basically bringing him to them! I really should have thought this plan out more.

Jun tugs on the chains, pulling me towards him. I fall to my knees before him as he stands up from the table he was sitting on. I glare up at him, but immediately I withdraw when I see those cold, violet eyes leering me down. It feels like he can see right into my soul.

"You're gonna tell me where I can find your friend, there's no ifs, ands or buts about it," he tells me. He gives my chain a harsh yank, emphasizing his superiority and power over me. "The choice you get to make is whether you tell me before I have to get rough with you, or after."

I'm scared. Truly and honestly scared. This whole place creeps the hell out of me on its own, but this guy… I'm terrified of what he might do to me. I haven't seen what he can do personally, but after all the rumors I've heard of the King of the Underground, I have a general idea of what he's capable of…

If I had to guess, Kai should be in the park over by Card Capital. He goes there for a nap whenever he starts brooding over his past, especially if Ren is involved in it. Aichi and the others might think he's hard to figure out sometimes, but he's actually very predictable…

But he'll have to beat it out of me if Jun expects me to tell him that.

"I'll take option A if you don't mind," I say mockingly.

Jun blinks, a look of disbelief spreading across his face. Soon after, however, it disappears and that smirk stretches up the corners of his mouth, flashing me his pearly whites in a sadistic smile. "Suit yourself."

He turns around and gives my chains a few short pulls, making me follow behind him. He leads me all the way over to one of the old basketball nets.

Jun starts to undo my chains. "Now, I'd advise you not to run away while I do this, or things could end up very bad for you," he says. I nod silently. I wasn't going anywhere anyway. I can barely outrun someone like Aichi, so I doubt that I can get away from someone who can command an army of thugs twice his size.

He pushes on my shoulders so that I fall down to my knees once more, facing the pole of the basketball net. He takes both of my arms around each side of the pole and reties his chains around my wrist, using the pole like a stake to keep me in place. The chains dig painfully against my wrists just to move my arms up and down, so I keep them as still as possible.

"Do whatever you like to me, but I'm not telling you where Kai is," I say bluntly.

Jun chuckles ominously. "Oh, is that so?" he asks, walking in behind me and out of my line of sight. I don't dare turn my head, for fear of what I might see him attempt. "Well then, what if I did… this!"

I brace myself for a punch or a kick or some sort of physical beat-… The hell?

I was expecting to get the crap beaten out of me. Instead, all I feel is a hand gentle caressing over my ass. Up and down, switching from one cheek to the next and back again, even running up the middle and digging in viciously. I moan unwillingly when he starts digging his fingers in between.

"W-What… are you doing?" I ask, trying to ignore the blush growing wildly across my face.

"Were you expecting a beating?" he asks teasingly, giving my left cheek a firm squeeze and making me moan again. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not having you run to the cops and showing them anything that can be used against me in a court of law. There's enough of them snooping around here on a regular basis."

"S-So you chose s-sexual harassment over physical assault!?"

"A lot harder to trace back to a specific person if there's no marks or proof of the assailant. If you went to the police, for all they know you're just some snot-nosed brat trying to get attention."

I hate to admit it, but he's got a point… This town's police department, not unlike the Hitsue schools, is pretty lax when it comes to sexual harassment crimes. They don't have the time to track down minor sexual assault cases. They won't even look at your case unless you have any physical injuries, or 'DNA' samples of the assailant. You really have to wonder why people choose to live-

"Oh, god!"

My thought is cut short when he uses his free hand to reach up inside of my shirt and starts playing with my nipples, sending a shockwave of ecstasy through my whole body and making me moan again. My breathing quickly becomes ragged as he starts pinching down on them, hard. My face feels like its burning up. I've never been more humiliated, being felt up by a complete stranger in an abandoned part of town… in broad daylight!

Even so, I've never been more turned on. My whole body is shivering with pure elation, and my already-skinny-enough jeans are growing considerably tighter by the second. This prick definitely knows how to work his hands…

"Are you gonna talk now?" Jun asks. "Just tell me where Kai is, and I'll stop… Unless, you don't want me to stop. No, you like it when I tease you like this, don't you? If you were still standing, would your knees have turned to jelly and given out by now?"

Yes… "S-Shut up…" Try to ignore him, Taishi! He can only do this for so long. Eventually, he'll either get bored or tired and give up. I just have to try to ignore his breath that's racing across my neck, and his hands that are probably turning my nipples from a light pink to a harsh red… and the fact that if he doesn't stop grinding his crotch against my ass then I'm gonna lose it!

"I knew from the second you walked in here that you were gay," he whispered in my ear, taking a pause to run his tongue along the crevices of my ear. He reaches around my waist and undoes the top button of my pants, then slides down the zipper. "The pink sweater, the tight-ass jeans, that sexy blonde hair… not to mention that you would willingly come alone to this place just to protect this 'friend' of yours. Admit it, you love the guy, don't you?"

…I do… I do love Kai. I love him more than anything in this world. That's why I'll take everything that this guy can dish out. He won't break me. I'll protect Kai or I'll die trying!

"Hm?" Jun suddenly stops, pulling his hands off of me and standing back up. I take a breath of relief while I can. I don't know what made him stop, but thank the gods for it! I need to get this raging hard-on back down before Jun gets his hands all over me again!

I turn around to see what distracted the guy from harassing me any further. He's turned away from me and has a cell phone pressed against his ear, so I'm assuming an abrupt call was what interrupted his attack. It seems like it was an unwanted call as well, because Jun doesn't look to please that our 'time' together was cut short.

"I see… Well, bring him back here, ASAP. Tell him his little blonde friend is here and he should come running." 'Blonde friend?' …Me?

Oh, god… don't tell me…

"See you in ten, later." He hangs up his phone and puts in his his back pocket. He glances back at me. "Well, sucks for you. My boys found your buddy napping in some park across town." Do I know Kai or what? "They're on their way, now. Should be here in, like ten minutes."

…Are you shitting me?! I went through all of that; enduring his hands fondling every inch of me, talking dirty to me right in my ear, mentally preparing myself for the worst, all to keep Kai away from this place… for nothing?

Jun kneels down in front of me. I get scared again and freeze up when he reaches for my waist, but I loosen up slightly when I see he's buttoning my pants back up again. Once he gets the zipper up, he flashes a grin at me. "Oh well. That was fun while it lasted."

I feel my eye twitch. "FUN!? You were about two minutes away from raping me in this shit hole of a hangout! You think I enjoyed that!?"

"Well, the tent in your briefs aside…" Damn my stupid, hormonal body! "you were making a lot of cute noises. I don't think I could have gotten those sounds out of any of the hookers here if I tried."

I don't know if I'm ferociously angry or just horribly embarrassed, but I know my face is growing redder and redder in either case. "Oh, shut up!"

Jun laughs. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever… You know, if you're up for it, I wouldn't mind hooking up sometime for real."

"You MUST be joking."

"I'm not. You're pretty cute, and it's clear that your body likes the king's ' _royal treatment_.'"

I look away. "I'd sooner throw myself under a guillotine."

"Suit yourself. The offer stands indefinitely, just so you know."

This guy is delusional. As if I'd like to sleep with anyone (other than Kai… maybe…), let alone the likes of him! I bet he has a million girls (or guys, wouldn't surprise me after what just happened) that throw themselves at him whenever he so much as snaps his finger… and those fingers were all over me! Gah! I don't wanna know where those hands have been!

I hate this guy! I hope I never have to see him ever again!

-x~X~x-

I can't believe I'm actually doing this…

As I walk past the older-looking buildings and into alleyway after alleyway, my heartbeat is going crazy at the memory of what awaits me when I get there…

…To the underground fighting ring.

No trip to the underground has been a pleasant one, least of all for me. Between the creepy smokers, cheaters, and… Jun. I shiver at the mere thought of his name.

I had to ditch the last two periods of the school day to get out here. I'm worried that if I waited any longer, Kai might take off somewhere. I know that he's at home, because, on the way here, I took a route that took me past Kai's apartment building. I passed a pizza delivery man that was muttering something about an 'emo douchebag' on his way in, and given the massive amounts of onions I smelt coming from it, I would say he was delivering to Kai. At the very least, I won't have to worry about him going anywhere while I do this…

Kai knows that this place, and its leader, scare the hell out of me. What he doesn't know is why.

I turn the final corner, and I immediately hear a crowd chattering away. I see a few people along the outside of the fighting area. It sounds like a cardfight is just about over, and someone is getting royally schooled.

"Galactic Beast, Zeal attacks your Vanguard!"

My skin crawls when I hear that voice. No mistaking it. That's Jun's voice.

I fight my way through the the crowd of people, ignoring the glares that some people are giving me. I don't bother excusing myself because I know that no one would care.

When I get to the front of the crowd, I see that my ears didn't deceive me. Jun is standing there in the middle of the fight area, along with that red-headed lackey of his. They're using the motion figure system in a cardfight. Jun has a field full of Dimension Police units, with Galactic Beast, Zeal as the Vanguard, and his opponent is using Megacolony units, his Vanguard being Martial Arts Mutant, Master Beetle.

Following Jun's command, Zeal unleashes a barrage of neon lights from the multitude of gemstones imbedded in its body, all directed at Master Beetle. His opponent chose not to guard, and he's already at five damage. This match is obviously about to end.

"Twin Drive," Jun declares. He flips over the top two cards of his deck; both are Demon-Eye Monster, Gorgon, Critical Triggers. "My Vanguard is going Triple Critical!"

"D-Damage Check…" The red-head flips over the top card of his deck. Karma Queen, not a Heal Trigger. As expected of the king of the underground, Jun wins.

The players pick up their cards and remove the gloves from the their hands. Jun scoffs when he finishes. "Pathetic," he says mercilessly. I know he isn't talking to me, but I still cringe when he does. "The whole lot of you. I've beaten all of you three times over, each, and still didn't break a sweat. You guys are nothing but a bunch of weaklings. Can no one here give me any sort of challenge?!"

…Did he really just say he beat everyone of these brutes three times each without any struggle? I'm sweating bullets being next to all of these guys! If I had to face any of them, I'd be scared shitless!

"We're sorry, king!" one of the thugs shouts out, throwing himself to the ground in a bow. A few others do the same.

The red-headed lackey speaks up next. "You're just so far out of our league, king! We're not worthy enough to give you the challenge you deserve!"

Jun grunts. The chains that I'm _oh so_ familiar with drop from around his right wrist. He starts swinging them around and slamming them against the ground angrily. "You lot are all-" he pauses when he looks in my direction… Aw crap, he noticed me! "Miwa?"

"H-Hey, Jun…" I mutter, feeling my legs already threatening to give out on me. "Sorry to interrupt your, uh… training, but can we… talk?" I really don't want to be here. Not at all. If I could spend the rest of my life away from this hell-hole, I would…

But, as it stands, Jun is the only one who can help me clean up the mess I've made.

Jun flashes a smile at me, but then cracks his chains like a whip once more, glaring angrily at his underlings. "All of you, beat it! Anyone left within a two-mile radius of this place by the time I get to ten is gonna be severely punished! One~!" He cracks his whip-of-chains again. He doesn't even continue counting after that, because, soon, everyone of the underlings is running off in all directions, climbing over each other to get away. In less than ten seconds, everyone's run off to who-knows-where. The only ones left in the dark, beaten down basketball court are… me and Jun…

Oh god…

"You, uh… really know how to clear a room, don't you?" I say, trying my best to crack a smile.

"It comes in handy." Jun smirks at me, that smirk that sends an unnerving chill down my spine. "I had a feeling you'd come back eventually, Miwa," he says to me. He spins his arm around in circles violently, causing his chain to wrap back around his wrist, and starts walking my way. "So, you decided to take me up on my offer?"

Immediately I bring my arms up across my chest defensively. My face, I'm sure, is growing bright red. "Jun, for the last time, I'm not going to sleep with you! Least of all out here!"

Jun's smirk falls into a disapproving frown. "Then, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off with Kai, somewhere? Normally you follow him around like a little puppy."

My eyes widen at the mention of Kais' name. It probably shouldn't be, but it reminds me of every nasty, despicable thing I've done over the last two weeks. Everything I've done to Aichi in order to be with Kai…

"Speaking of which, where is that guy? I haven't seen Kai here in ages. Man, I could really use a challenge and he's-… Whoa… Miwa, are you crying?"

I bring my hand up to my cheek. I feel a small stream of tears running down both sides. I quickly rub the tears away with my forearm. "No, don't be stupid," I mutter quickly, hoping Jun would drop the subject. "Listen, I need a favor, and it involves Kai."

Jun's eyebrow rises at my question. "A favor?"

"Yeah, I need you to talk to him. He's in a slump because of me, and I need to get him out of it."

"Can't Aichi or one of your other friends do it? I doubt that what I say will have much of an impact on him, compared to what you guys can do."

"That's… not exactly an option right now…"

Jun walks up to me and takes me by the wrist. "Okay, let's sit down and you can start over, from the beginning. I can tell this is gonna be one hell of a long story so let's get comfortable."

After that, we sit down on the blacktop, with our backs to the fence, and I explain everything that's been happening over the last few weeks. How Aichi outted himself at the party, how Kai came in to Card Capital that night and broke down, how I've been making Aichi's life hell and extorting Morikawa into doing it for me… and Jun listened to every word I had to say. He seemed mesmerized by the dark tale that I was unfolding before him. He didn't interrupt me, outside of an occasional question, he didn't put any moves on me, he didn't mock me… all he did was sit there and listen while I poured my heart out about how I sold my soul to get absolutely nowhere. Despite the pain I had to relieve to get my message across, it was nice knowing that he was taking my dilemma seriously.

I feel the urge to cry again by the time I finish telling the story. I have my arms wrapped around my knees, resting my chin in between my kneecaps. Jun is sitting in a similar position, but his head is turned more to face me. All I can face is the ground, staring aimlessly at my shoes.

Jun seems baffled by everything I've told him. We've been sitting in silence for the last five minutes, neither one of us making a sound.

"I… never thought that… you, of all people, were capable of something like that…" he finally says. "Even accounting the heartbreak you must have been going through, I think that what you did was… beyond cruel, and look at who I am."

"Well, I'm not exactly proud of it…" I say. "That's why I need you to talk to Kai for me. I know that he won't open the door for me, and I'm _certain_ that the others would kill me if I tell them who's really had it in for Aichi this whole time."

"I see…" Jun stands up and starts dusting himself off. "Tell you what; I'll head over to Kai's and see what I can do, if…"

"'If?'" I really don't like where this is going…

"Yes, if… you let me take out." And, there it is.

"Jun, I'm not going to sleep with you, end of discussion. Please don't make me have to beg to get your help. You're quite literally my last resort." I'm not lying. Everyone else that has any sort of chance at getting through to Kai would shoot me if I told them why he's depressed. Ren, Tetsu, Misaki, and definitely Aichi. Not that I don't deserve any of it, but at the very least I need to see that Kai's alright. After that, the gang can have their way with me. Jun is my only shot…

"I'm not talking about sex, Miwa," Jun replies. What? "I mean on a date. A real date. Not one that ends in a hotel room or a dark alley." He reaches down, takes hold of my hands, and pulls me up from the ground. Once I'm standing, though, he doesn't let go. If anything, his grip tightens. He gazes softly into my eyes. "I know what you probably think of me, but let me tell you that its not true. I really don't get around to dating much, and I'm not the kind of guy that screws anything that moves. Even including you, you can count the number of people I've been involved with on one hand."

…I'm more than a little confused here. Ever since that incident so long ago, I've been terrified to come back here to the underground, and, even more so, facing Jun. I was scared that, even if Jun didn't start copping a feel, someone else would, and I'd end up getting raped in some alleyway with a bunch of people watching (Jun being one of them). I shouldn't even be considering that what Jun's saying could even be true. For all I know, he's a serial liar and a damned good one. But… looking into his eyes, seeing that cool and assertive attitude slowly melting away, only to be replaced by a warm, longing gaze and a small, blissful smile…

"I've been thinking about you every day since you were last here, and if you give me a chance, I won't make any moves that you don't want. You can make as many boundaries as you'd like and I'll abide by them at all times."

…I feel like I can believe him.

I look away, unable to face him with the words coming out of my mouth. "Jun… I-I'll agree to that, only if you can get Kai back to his normal self. If you don't get him to go see Aichi, th-then the deals off. You got tha-ACK!"

Jun lets go of my hands and abruptly wraps his arms around my neck, pulling me into a firm hug. His hands press into my back, pushing me further into his chest, and rests his chin on my shoulder. "Understood," he says in a calm, soothing voice.

I feel a little uncomfortable with him being this close to me. I haven't exactly forgotten that time he attacked me, far from it. Having him this close is bringing back a lot of haunting memories. I want to tell him to get off of me, but… after everything I've gone through with Kai and Aichi, it feels really nice that someone still cares about me. The warmth radiating from his body and onto mine makes me feel… for lack of a better word, loved.

I don't know when it happened, but at some point my hands were grabbing at the back of Jun's overcoat, gripping it for dear life and cementing our embrace even further. A few tears had escaped from my eyes, but they can't be of sadness. I don't feel sad anymore… so they must be joy. That explains the tugging at the corners of my cheeks.

I'm happy… I'm actually happy. I never thought it would happen again after what Kai did, but… I actually feel like- ...THE HELL?!

"Okay, Jun, first boundary: no part of you is to touch my ass at any time… so get your hands off!"

Jun backs off and steps back a few feet, holding his hands up defensively. He has a cheeky grin across his face. "Sorry, that one was an accident, promise," he says with a chuckle.

I sigh, crossing my arms across my chest. "I'm regretting this already."

-x~X~x-

I have a new OTP now. I christen thee "Junwa!" …yeah, that doesn't sound stupid at all…

I bet you guys never thought I'd bring in Jun, did you? He's such a cool character (I'm considering building his Zeal deck just because of it!) and he hasn't gotten nearly as much screen time as I think he deserves, so I figured 'why not?' Plus, we need someone to help Miwa-kun to get over Kai, and I ship these guys so haaaaard! (Not Kaichi hard, but hard enough that I love it to bits.)

I was inspired by Miwa's whole backstory with the Underground when I saw a picture on Zero-chan depicting him, Jun and Kai. Miwa was tied to the basketball pole like he was in the anime (and in this chapter), Jun had his hand on Miwa's crotch, and Kai was trying to reach for Miwa's ass. I shouldn't be happy about Miwa getting sexually harassed, but seeing him with two sets of hands all over him, feeling… yeah, I'm just gonna end it there…

We're getting to the last couple of chapters, though I may post a few bonus chapters later. Next one is gonna be in Kai's perspective (AGAIN, UGH!). I'm sick of doing Kai's POV but there's really no way to get to where I'm going in this story without doing it. I will admit, however, that doing the same character POV repeatedly does make it easier to get into that character's personality.

Anyway, see you guys next time!


	12. Chapter 12) Toshiki Kai

Hey everyone! I am SO sorry for the wait on the latest chapter! I've just been so busy with work, and getting ready for school, starting school, and trying not to wring my nephew's neck, that I couldn't focus...

So, now comes the hard part. I have to take a depressed, moody teenager, make his attitude do a 180 and run after the boy he loves all in one chapter, with the help of only two of his friends… Yeah, that won't hard!

I wrote this chapter based on the glimpses of Kai's apartment I saw in an episode of Legion Mate, when Kai was cooking fried rice for himself and Miwa. I'm not quite sure why he has a bachelor pad (though it isn't surprising given his character), but I have a theory that his uncle just pays for the rent and gives Kai an allowance for food or some similar situation (lord knows he doesn't work). Even his family must know that Kai needs his space, haha!

Also, I assume you guys have figured out that a lot of the Vanguard units in this story were created beyond the point of the end of Season 1 (Ancient Dragon, Spinodriver, Galactic Beast, Zeal, etc.). Well, I've decided that I'd do a bit of a crossover with the later seasons. The same time period, just better advances in the game, simply because I love them more and think they have more significance to add to the story. I'm not going further than Legion units with this era, so G-units are off limits!

Anyway, on with the show! Chapter 12, from the Depressed Tsundere of CFV (whose point of view I'm getting sick of writing), Toshiki Kai!

-x~X~x-

"God, someone kill me…"

I collapse on my bed, shoving away the heap of unmade sheets that are lumping uncomfortably under my back. My stomach is doing a dozen backflips after devouring that whole pizza. Pepperoni, hot peppers, Italian sausage and extra onions don't exactly sit well in my stomach in mass amounts. Anything more than three pieces at a time makes me want to vomit, and that's usually all I have when I get pizza, but I just couldn't stop eating…

Ever since that night, I haven't been able to stop eating. If I feel even the smallest craving, I'll gorge myself and won't stop until there's no more food in front of me. I've eaten my kitchen bare, and have resorted to ordering fast food for all of my meals. I just feel so guilty over everything that happened that I'm just drowning myself in food, trying to fill the void left by my two best friends.

I groan at the thought of that night; the night that both Aichi and Miwa said they loved me, and how I broke both of their hearts in such a short time. I've never hated myself more in my life than I have in these last two weeks.

I keep going over those events in my head, seeing if there was anything I could have done differently so that everyone would end up happy, and I could only come up with one solution; the whole thing could have been avoided if I had just stayed adamant and refused Aichi when he asked me to go to the party. Kou Amegakure humiliated Aichi all because he made an enemy out of her by defending me. If I didn't go, she wouldn't have had a reason to out Aichi like she did, and I wouldn't have run off when Aichi said that he loved me. I wouldn't have poured my heart out to Miwa and provoked him into making an enemy of Aichi, and then confessing to me as well. I could arrange bits and pieces of it as much as I like, but I should just have stayed away from that party. That was the catalyst that brought everything in the world crashing down, one disaster after another, almost like dominos.

And yet… a small part of me doesn't regret going. The part of me that still loves Aichi and wants to be with him. The part that wants to hold him in my arms and guard him against everything he must be going through right now… The part of me that skipped a beat when he said he loved me.

I've wanted to say it back to Aichi ever since I ran out that door… No, even before that. The second those words left his lips, I've wanted to parrot them back. I wanted to take him in my arms and say, "I love you, too, Aichi Sendou," scream it at the top of my lungs.

…But it's too late now. I left Aichi. I ran away. I left him there to rot in that hell hole of a school, packed to the brim with bullies. Not only that, but even if Aichi did forgive me, there's Miwa… He loves me too. Maybe even more than Aichi does. So much so that his inner demon jumps right out at the thought of anyone else loving me, or the prospect of me loving them back. That night… I saw Miwa's true colors. I realized just how truly, horrifically dark it is in the back of his mind. Aichi was his friend, and he was ready to stab him in the back to keep him away from me. He's a bit on the bipolar side, but I can understand where he's coming from. He has someone that he loves and wants nothing more than to have them all to himself.

Everything's been said and done, so I'm just going to have to learn to live with it. I can't be with Aichi, not without the risk of provoking Miwa into trying to murder him in his sleep (and I'm not entirely joking), and I don't deserve to be with Aichi after abandoning him. I love Miwa like a brother, but I could never be his boyfriend. I just don't feel like we would work out well at all.

The only fair solution is to choose neither of them. I should let them live their lives, let them try to find someone else... forget about me. I care so much about both of them. They both deserve someone who won't hurt them like I did…

There's a knocking at the door. I don't know who it could be though. I didn't order anything besides the pizza… Probably just a salesman, looking to sell me some vacuum or something.

I turn over on my side, trying to ignore the person at the door. The lights are off, so if I'm quiet, he'll get bored and go away. I've had quite a few of them these last few weeks. One guy was persistent enough that he stood out there for an hour, pounding on the door, until I finally went out there, took the briefcase from his hands and hit him over the head with it before I threatened to call the cops.

The knocking doesn't stop, but it's easy to drown it out. The pounding in my stomach is more than enough to make the barrage on my door seem like the buzzing of a fly on the wall. It doesn't take long for the guy at the door to give up and stop, which means I can go to sleep and hope that, while I'm unconscious, I throw up this pizza and choke to death on my own vomit.

I shift around in my bed for a bit, and finally find a position that's the least uncomfortable. I close my eyes and try to let my world go blank… but then, the sound of a key entering a lock makes me sit up and stare at the door in a panic. I see the doorknob jiggling, which means someone's trying to unlock it.

There's only two people with keys to my apartment. One would be my uncle, but he's on a business trip to Kyoto and isn't due back for another week. The other is… oh, God… Miwa…

He can't possibly be over me that quickly, can he? Or maybe he's here to try and change my mind. Maybe he's going to confess again, see if my hearing it a second time will make me want to be with him. In any case, I can't look him in the eye right now, not after everything that's gone down between us. I'm not mentally prepared to face him yet.

I hear the familiar 'click' of my door being unlocked. I get up from my bed, ignoring the swirling feeling in my stomach, to try and make it to the door before Miwa can open it.

A voice speaks through the door just as it opens. I'm momentarily blinded by the light entering my otherwise dark apartment. "Pardon the intrusion!"

Hang on… that's not Miwa's voice…

I rub my eyes, trying to get my vision back after being blinded by the light coming from the door. My vision clears up, and instead of Miwa, I'm shocked to see Jun standing there. He looks just as confident as ever, a hand on his hip and holding a hair pin in the other. That explains how he got in…

"Ever hear of breaking and entering?" I ask, reaching for the light switch beside the door and turning on the apartment lights.

"Hello to you, too, Kai," he says jokingly. "For the record, I'm a man on a mission, and since you wouldn't open the door, I took matters into my own hands. May I come in?"

I groan. "Even if I said no, you'd probably barge in anyway."

"Too true."

I lead the way into the apartment after Jun shuts the door behind him. I sit down on the bed and glare up at him, but he just continues to stand.

"Nice undies," he says with a chuckle.

I look down at myself. All I have on is my form-fitting black t-shirt and a pair of matching boxer briefs, my typical sleeping attire. "I wasn't expecting company," I mutter back. If I cared enough, I'd grab a pair of pants off the ground and throw them on. But I didn't even care when the pizza guy came by (he seemed to enjoy the sight though, considering he only charged me half of what I owed and then left with his face flushed), so why should I care if Jun sees me half naked? "Is there a reason you're here other than to judge my sleepwear?"

He grins. "As a matter of fact, yes," he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a grey deck box. "Have a cardfight with me, Kai. Right now."

A cardfight? …Huh, now that I think of it, I've barely touched my deck lately, other than to move it from place to place to keep it from getting dirty or anything. I haven't had a cardfight with anyone these last few weeks. A cardfight doesn't sound like a bad idea, actually. It might help me get this whole thing off my chest for a while. But why did Jun come all the way over here just to fight me? He has a whole army of underground fighters to play against…

Oh, who cares? Cardfighting is my only relief from the world. I'm not gonna question why an opponent would come all the way across town just to offer me one!

I quickly grab my deck from my desk. "Sure, I don't see why not."

I throw the remaining bed sheets off to the side of the bed and straighten out the sheet. It's the only surface in here with enough space to support a full cardfight, but Jun doesn't seem to mind. He sits down at the opposite end and puts out his Starting Vanguard, face-down, as do I. We both shuffle our decks, draw five and do our mulligans, and then reach for our cards, ready to flip them and start.

"Stand up…"

"the…"

"Vanguard!"

-x~X~x-

"With a boost from Psychic Grey, my Legion attacks Dragonic Overlord the End!"

I looked over my hand frantically for something I could guard with. New Era Beast, Zeal is now in Legion with Galactic Beast, Zeal, with Psychic Grey boosting for a total of 32000 power. Because of Jun using both New Era Beast's and the Breakride's skills, Dragonic Overlord is now down to 0 power. I don't have nearly enough to guard the attack, even if he didn't pull any triggers. "N-No guard." I'm at five damage. I'm gonna need to rely on pulling a heal trigger. I've gotten three of them already this game, but I still have one left and if I get it I can guard Jun's last attack. As long as he doesn't get a critical trigger, then I can still win.

"Twin drive. First check…" Galactic Beast, Zeal. Not a trigger. "Second check." Please don't be a critical trigger… "Demon-Eye Monster, Gorgon. A Critical trigger. Sorry, Kai, but that's game. I know you don't have two heal triggers left."

"Fuck!" The curse escapes my lips before I even register it. I almost cover my mouth. I rarely curse out loud, and only when I'm provoked into it. A friendly game of Vangaurd with nothing on the line doesn't fit that criteria in the slightest.

Jun seemed amused at my outburst. He whistles at me, almost like a catcall. "Language, Kai!" he says teasingly. "I don't think I've ever heard you curse before. Something on your mind?"

I clench my teeth, trying to suppress my annoyance. "Oh, shut up. Don't think I haven't realized that you came here for a reason other than to play Vanguard, so spill it."

I watch as Jun's cheerful expression quickly softened, and then hardened once more into a look of determination. I haven't seen him this serious in a long time. "Kai, I want you to take a look at your field, and tell me what you see wrong."

I raise an eyebrow at his request. "Why?"

"Just do it. You'll see for yourself."

I do as he tells me, just for curiosity's sake, and immediately I realize what he was getting at… My board is a complete mess!

I have two 10000-point shields in the back row, plus a Perfect Guard, one that I searched earlier with Conroe's skill, all of which I had called on my last turn. My front row consists of Dragonic Overlord the End as the vanguard, Embodiment of Armor, Bahr on the left, and Calamity Tower Wyvern on the right. I look at my hand. I had a Grade 2 and Grade 3 from my last turn, before my twin drive, that I could have called instead of those triggers. I could have had two stronger attacks. I could have had an intercept. I could have had 20000 extra shield power, plus one attack completely nullified…

This has to be the worst formation I've ever had made. Even as a kid I would have done that all better. Hell, Morikawa could have done a better job with the cards I was given! The only question is how? How have I sunken so far in my skill level? I may be a little rusty from not playing for two weeks, but even so, I shouldn't be this bad!

"Kai, you know that everyone makes a misplay from time to time, but you're too skilled to play that badly unless you have something that's throwing you off." Jun taps my forehead with his knuckles for emphasis. "And I'll tell you what it is that's throwing you off. It's this whole deal with Miwa and Aichi that's thrown you completely out of whack."

I gasp at the mention of my friend's names, all of the pain from that night rushing back. Miwa… Aichi… hearing, or even thinking about, their names feels like a knife being stabbed in my stomach, then twisted around just to be cruel. All the guilt, all the regret, all the overbearing pain of hurting the two most important people in my life… it's just too much for me to bare.

"Jun… I think it's time for you to go…" I say, gathering up my cards and putting them back on my desk.

"Kai, you can't escape this forever. You'll eventually have to go back to Card Capital to face them."

"Watch me." I know that came off as a bit childish, but as far as I'm concerned Jun has nothing to do with this situation. I'll face Miwa, maybe even Aichi, when I'm ready… "Those two can live perfectly normal lives without me in them. They don't need me dragging them down. Give them a few weeks, they'll get over me."

Jun grabs my wrist violently, so tightly that it hurts, and throws me against a wall. He starts glaring daggers into my eyes. "You honestly think that those two can just move on and live without you in their lives? Do you really believe that?" he says to me, his voice so powerful that it's on the brink becoming a yell. "You know that Aichi has always idolized you. You're his role model. He would never have gotten to where he is today if you hadn't inspired him, and he needs you to help him get even stronger! And Miwa… If you honestly think Miwa doesn't need you in his life, then why would he come all the way to the underground, and ask me, of all people, to come here and help you!?"

I'm speechless, frozen in place. Almost shocked, even, by this news. Miwa… after everything that's happened, has been terrified of the underground, and of Jun especially. I've seen him shriek and run away if we so much as pass Jun in public. He swore to whatever holy being is up there that he would never go to the underground again, under any circumstance…

"I was his last resort…" Jun says softly, glancing off to the side. His grip on my shirt loosened, and I found that my knees were losing all of the strength to keep me standing. "He told me a lot of things. Horrifying things about what he's been up to. Any of your other friends would have murdered him for what he told me. But the one thing that really stuck on me was how much he cared about you, Kai. He's even ready to move on. But he can't do that unless you talk to him."

I'm trying to get my mouth to move, to say something… but hearing all of these things about Miwa has paralyzed my vocal cords and made my mouth useless.

"Don't you see, Kai? Even if Aichi wanted to move on, which I'm certain he won't, you need to have the decency to give him closure. Same with Miwa. Both of them love you, but unless you give them that closure you'll leave them hanging and waiting for you! Those two will forever be expecting you to turn around and apologize, and until then they'll never be able to get on with their lives!"

…In all the time that I've spent by myself, mulling over every little thing I did wrong and what I could have changed to make things right again, I never put that into perspective. I never thought confronting them would be a solution. I thought it would be best to keep them away from me so that they wouldn't be reminded of all of the hurt I had caused them. I figured that, in time, Miwa and Aichi would be able to move past what I've done to them…

"Kai… the only reason that you've been avoiding them for this long, is because you're afraid to see them upset. You're scared of accepting what you've done."

…but, I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Finally, my knees give out, and I fall to the floor with a loud thud, my back still leaning against the wall. I barely register the pain in my knees after they collide with the hard, wooden floor. My head is spinning, trying desperately to process everything that's happened. The only thing my brain is able to process at the moment is that… Jun is right. He's absolutely right. I didn't want to admit it, but the thought of Miwa or Aichi crying because of something I said to them is too much for me to bare. Words can't even begin to describe how much those two have touched me. Seeing them, or any of my friends, upset gives me a headache, and I go through a million different emotions, each one more confusing than the last. Those emotions, and the fact that I can't understand them, scare the crap out of me…

Aichi… Miwa… I'm so sorry.

"I…" I can't will my mouth to move. I'm trying so hard to say something; anything…

Just as I feel myself about to give up and fall to the floor in tears, the door slams wide open behind Jun. I feel the floor shake slightly as the person stomps their way into my home. "Kai, snap out of it!"

That voice… Miwa?

Jun steps out of my way, allowing me to see the man who came in. Sure enough, Miwa's walking over to me.

"Miwa, I thought you wanted me-" Jun tries to say, but Miwa holds a hand up to his face.

"No, I'm taking over," he says with a firm, confident voice. "Let me handle this."

Jun nods and takes a step back at Miwa's declaration. "By all means."

He turns his attention back to me. He stands over me, glaring down at me as if I was the source of his rage. All I can do is just sit on the floor, my back to the wall, while he shoots daggers at me through his eyes. Neither of us can say anything; the tension between us is speaking volumes about this whole mess. In a way, both of us are to blame for everything, and we both must realize that.

"Miwa, I-OW!" I'm cut off when Miwa slaps me harshly across the face. The action sends me to the floor, face first. I sit up from the floor, my back against the wall. Between Miwa's slap, and my face-plant into the floorboards, my whole face feels like it's on fire with searing pain. "What the hell is your problem?!" I yell, grabbing at my cheeks to try and rub away the pain. The burning sensation has already begun on the outside of my cheeks, as well as the inside.

"You need to get a grip, Kai," Miwa says assertively. "This isn't like you. As far back as I've known you, I haven't once seen you hide from your problems, Kai, and you've always been able to deal with them. Don't you remember when Ren went nuts with PSYqualia? And Aichi with his? You put yourself through hell and back by training in the underground so you could become strong enough to bring both of them back to their senses." Miwa kneels down beside me and grabs hold of my shoulders with a firm grasp. "Where is that Kai gone to? The Kai that fights for something he wants. I'm not gonna leave until I dig him out."

"I'm not running-"

"BULLSHIT!" Miwa screams. Even Jun takes a step back at the anger in Miwa's voice. "You've locked yourself up for two weeks! You haven't come to school. You've been eating takeout. You've been avoiding me like the plague, and I know for a fact that you've been avoiding… Aichi." I see a brief grimace of pain as he says Aichi's name, but he quickly shakes it off. "Look, Kai, if you wanna go be with him, then go for it! I honestly don't care anymore! At least you'll be happy dating Aichi, and we can still be best friends like before, and that's really all I need! And I'm… sorry that it took so long for me to figure that out."

…I must be hearing things. After everything Miwa's after saying and doing, how much he's said that he despises Aichi and how much he loves me, there's no way that he's… giving me his blessing.

"Miwa…" I say cautiously, afraid I might upset him again. "Are you sure… you know what you're saying?"

Miwa nods, his lips trembling slightly. There's still a great deal of fear in his eyes, but he still seems happy. "I do. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to say in my life, but… I want you to go to Aichi. Nothing would make me happier than to see you smiling just like you did when we were kids, and I know that he can bring it out of you… But, for the love of God, get out of your apartment and come back to school! I miss having you around to annoy." He flashes me a teasing grin. He removes one hand from my shoulder and uses it to poke me in the cheek. His expression quickly softens, however, and he lays his head on my shoulder. "I miss you, Kai… Please let me back in."

I half-expected Miwa to start sobbing into my shirt, but all he did was lay there. His hands were gripping the hem of my shirt for dear life but other than that he was perfectly content. He was content just being near me…

I couldn't figure out how to respond. Having someone, especially Miwa, so close to me is an experience that has gotten even more foreign to me with my recent isolation. I gotta try and say something… anything…

"Miwa… I really am sorry for putting you through so much," I find myself saying. He shifts just slightly enough to hear what I'm saying. "I just… You're so important to me. You were the only one that stood by my side through everything. You were always there, no matter how unbearable I know I can be sometimes. I may not have said it before, but I liked having you there, and I appreciated it. That's why I've been avoiding you. I never want to hurt you again. You or Aichi. I guess… I went about it the wrong way."

He gently pounds a fist against one of my shoulders. He still refuses to look up. I hear him chuckle half-heartedly. "You dummy," he says. "I'd cry if I had any tears left, but I've shed them all over you. I blame you…"

For the first time in what feels like forever, I manage to crack a smile at my best friend. I even will my arms to wrap around Miwa's back and hold him in a comforting embrace. It's not often I smile, even on my good days, so the fact that Miwa can make me do it when I'm at the brink of losing myself…

It's reassuring to know that he can make me happy when I've lost all hope.

An abrupt cough ends our tender moment. Miwa is lifted out of my grasp by the back of his jacket by Jun. It's subtle, but there's a brief look of jealousy in Jun's eyes that I've never seen before… What's going on…?

"That's enough," he says. "Get your own boyfriend. This one's mine."

'Boyfriend?' Does he mean… Miwa? …THE HELL?!

I look to Miwa, hoping to get some MUCH needed context. He looks just as confused as I do, only much more embarrassed. He starts flailing his arms around frantically when he sees me gawking at him. "I'm NOT his boyfriend! It-It's only one date! That… was the price to get Jun over here to help me." He looks away, going from flailing to poking his index fingers together.

…Miwa agreed to go on a date with the King of the Underground, just so he would help me? …Well, if that isn't a show of true love, I don't know what is.

"He's not my boyfriend YET," Jun states, winking at Miwa. "He'll be mine soon enough, though."

"GAH!" Miwa shrieks, his face growing bright red. He shakes himself out of Jun's grip and distances himself from Jun. "Shut up! Don't give Kai the wrong idea!" he yells. He steps away from Jun and walks back toward me. He holds out his hand to me. "Come on, man. You need to get up, get showered, get dressed, and get your ass out the door. Aichi's not gonna come to you, especially when you reek of onions!"

I look at his hand, and then at him grinning down at me. I saw that smile, so bright, so full of energy and life, and then I knew…

I don't have to worry about Miwa anymore.

-x~X~x-

UWAAAAAA! Finally done!

This had to be the hardest chapter to write thus far! I'm really not good with emotional epiphanies, so forgive me if this chapter wasn't as good as it could be!

I'm happy to say that this will be the last chapter with Kai's point of view (THANK FUCKING GOD!). The last chapter(s) will actually be written in third person. Can't wait!

Oh, time to go to class! Save the BL for later, I guess, haha. See you all next time!

REMEMBER: Reviews are an excellent motivator!


	13. Chapter 13)

SURPRISE!

You thought this would be the final chapter, didn't you? EH! Wrong! One more before the final one!

BTW, I managed to get a Zeal Legion deck! I traded my Neo Nectar deck for it. I hate that I have to run Cosmic Hero, Grandguard for the PG, just because I wanna stick with the theme of the super villain for this deck, but this deck is so counterblast heavy that it really needs Grandguard's countercharge bonus. Not gonna lie, it's not as good as I hoped it would be. Even so, I love it too much for words to express, it makes even 8K Grade 2 units viable for attacks! XD

I'm gonna use these next few chapters to tie up a few loose ends.

-x~X~x-

Miwa could hear the water running from Kai's bathroom shower. He watched the small streams of steam leaking out from the cracks in the door. He could hear Kai's voice through it all, muttering something incoherent to the naked ear, but he knew that it was something about Aichi.

He could faintly pick out the word 'love' through all the noise. Perhaps he was practicing what he was going to say to Aichi once he saw him?

The blonde sighed as he thought of his blueberry friend. Even after what he said to Kai, he still bore some resentment towards Aichi. He still found Aichi guilty for everything that had happened these last few weeks. He was still bitter over the fact that Kai had chosen Aichi over him. He was still jealous that Aichi seemingly didn't even have to try to earn his love, when he would have made the earth spin backwards for Kai.

…But, if he could make Kai happy, then he'd learn to deal with it.

He tied over the garbage bag that was in his hands, stuffed to the brim with takeout containers and clothes stained beyond the point that washing them any number of times would make a difference. The blonde glanced over to his black-haired companion, and saw him throwing a number of salvageable clothes in a laundry basket to be cleaned later on.

The two of them had taken it upon themselves to tidy up Kai's apartment while he cleaned himself up, if nothing else to keep themselves busy. They had opened the door and windows already, to allow the stale air that had been built up over the last two weeks, picked up most of the garbage lying around, and were in the middle of disposing it all. There were already two garbage bags beside the door, the one in Miwa's hands making three. Both boys wondered how one man could make such a mess on his own, especially one who was so well-organized as Kai, but neither chose to vocalize it and kept cleaning.

"I gotta ask," Jun said, breaking the comfortable silence between the two of them, "All that stuff you said to Kai about not caring… that was complete bull, wasn't it?"

Miwa shook his head softly. "I can't say that it was entirely honest…" he trailed off, "but I wasn't lying when I said that I wanted to see him smile again. I almost never see that anymore, and nothing I've done so far has gotten so much as a grin out of him. So, if Aichi can bring that out of him, then I won't get in his way. I'm not exactly Aichi's biggest fan right now, but I genuinely want Kai to be happy, and… I realize now that he won't be, if he's with me. I just… gotta work on accepting that."

Jun's mouth hung slightly at Miwa's elaborate statement. He was impressed by the fact that Miwa was brave enough to admit that he was ready to let Kai go. He had gotten the closure that he so desperately needed, and he was trying to move on with his life.

Hearing about everything that he had done to Aichi, and looking at him now, Jun could see that Miwa had taken a big step forward…

As did he.

Jun couldn't resist dropping the basket in his arms, not caring if it spilled all over the floor and making him have to start over later on, stepping forward, and then throwing his arms around Miwa's neck, pulling the blonde into a sudden, ardent embrace. He couldn't explain his action, or why it felt appropriate. All he could recognize was how warm and compelling Miwa's body heat felt pressed against him; how perfectly his chin fit between Miwa's neck and shoulder. He ignored the sound of running water quickly dissolve. He disregarded the sound of his phone buzzing in his back pocket, likely one of his lackeys wondering where he had disappeared to. All he could focus on was the fact that Miwa was within his arms, and how amazing that felt to him.

Miwa was knocked back by the force of Jun's hug, stumbling back a few steps. He didn't understand; why Jun was hugging him? Why was he digging his bony chin into his shoulder? Why were his hands digging so aggressively into his back and threatening to tear apart his uniform jacket? Why was he breathing so heavily down the back of his neck? …and why did it make him feel so content?

He should be mad at Jun for getting in his personal space again, even after he made himself adamantly clear on the way over to Kai's apartment that he didn't want the raven getting too close, and in his mind anything beyond holding hands was too close. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to push Jun away. He wanted him to be close; closer even. He didn't stop himself when his arms lifted themselves and laid them down across the small of Jun's back. He didn't resist the urge to pull the two of them together even further, even when he found it hard to breath. He couldn't fight the blush that was quickly staining his cheeks a brilliant red. After being rejected by Kai and isolating himself from his friends for so long, Miwa had never been more content with his life than he was at that moment.

"…Am I interrupting something?"

The sudden interjection from Kai startled the both of them substantially, enough that Miwa seemed to jump in spot, knocking the side of his head into Jun's. Both of them cringed in pain, holding their now throbbing and paining heads.

Jun, still clutching the side of his head, glared daggers at Kai. "Just a bit," he muttered bitterly. "Son of a bitch, Miwa! Do you have a metal plate in your head?"

Miwa chuckled slightly. "Kai's always said that I had a thick skull," he stated.

The blonde took a glance over at his moody friend, and was momentarily hit with a wave of nostalgia. He had apparently just finished his shower and had gotten dressed. He had thrown on his Hitsue High School uniform, the only clothes he had that were untouched since the ordeal began. He looked slightly annoyed, but still bored enough by the situation that he was unlikely to do anything about it. If anything, he looked like he would leave if things got on his nerves any more than they already did.

That was the Kai he remembered, and it made Miwa smile.

Kai shrugged his shoulders, obviously growing bored with the current conversation. "Whatever. I'm going to find Aichi. Do you think he's still at school?"

Jun reached into his back pocket for his phone. "I doubt it," he said, pulling out his phone and looking at the time. "Histue closed half an hour ago."

"Then I'd say that it'd be best to check Card Capital," Miwa added.

Kai didn't even give them any sort of acknowledgement, outside of a small nod, before he barreled past both of them. He hadn't even bothered to shut the door behind him. That was a clear indicator as to his determination. He knew where he was going, and who he wanted to see and he was ignorant to everything and everyone else.

Miwa couldn't help but give Kai a small, sad smile as he ran out the door. That was the final indicator that he and Kai were going to be nothing more than friends, and that his feelings for Aichi couldn't be anything but pure, genuine love, and he pitied anyone that tried to get in between that.

It was then that he remembered everything that he had put Morikawa up to in order to mess with Aichi to see the boy in tears. He remembered every single picture that he still had in his phone, every embarrassing and quite frankly cruel thing that he was the reason for, especially his most recent doing. Not only was Aichi probably traumatized by the whole ordeal, but he may have also turned everyone against Morikawa (more than usual). All of them were probably ready to kill the idiot because of his own petty jealousy.

"Oh crap," he said aloud. "I gotta go!"

"Hm?" Jun hummed, raising at Miwa's sudden outburst. "I thought you were ready to let go of Kai. You're not gonna chase after him, are you?"

"No, not that. I gotta go apologize to my friends before someone kills Morikawa!" he elaborated. He quickly clapped his hands together in a prayer's position. "Sorry to leave you alone with all this, but would it be too much to ask you finish cleaning without me?"

Jun smiled. "Yeah, no problem. We can't have someone dying," he said with a small laugh. "I'll deal with all of this."

Miwa nodded. "Thanks." He began rushing out the door, but paused briefly, looking over his shoulder at Jun. There was a small blush growing over his cheeks. "Um… If no one kills me because of this, I'm free tomorrow night… for our date."

Miwa didn't stay long enough to see Jun's jaw dropping at his words. He had run out the door too quickly to see the raven's face slowly growing red, but he assumed that it matched his own. It was overwhelmingly embarrassing for him to utter those words. Half of him wanted to keep quiet about the arrangement, hoping Jun may possibly forget about it. Yet, he knew he couldn't. He saw that look of sincerity, and longing in Jun's eyes back in the Underground. He saw no deceit, no sneaky smirks, no hidden sexual lust or seductive stares that was trying to strip him naked with his eyes alone. It was a look that wanted nothing more than to do just that; look, admire even. Ignoring the hug (and accidental ass groping), Jun wished nothing more than to abide by Miwa's limits and move at a comfortable pace for the both of them. Build an actual relationship…

The blonde shook his head to try and get his mind back on the task at hand. He would still be on his guard with Jun, but his focus needed to be on smoothing out the rest of the mess that he had created. If he was lucky, he could get to Card Capital before someone chopped off Morikawa's head and put it on a stake.

As he continued to run, I managed to catch up to Kai enough to see him plowing past everyone in his path. People are yelling and swearing at him, but he couldn't care less. The only thing that he sees is the ground between him and Aichi. Everyone else may as well be the air around him, easily being pushed out of the way for Kai to run past them.

As he turned the corner, Miwa spotted Kamui on the ground, clutching his elbow and glaring daggers at Kai, who is still running for Card Capital. By the way it looked, Kai knocked Kamui to the ground and his elbow got scraped in the crossfire…

-x~X~x-

Misaki watched Shin walk Aichi out to the Card Capital van and drive off with him. He had volunteered to drive the boy home after failing to find anything to cover his unfortunate forehead marking, leaving her in charge of the shop until he returned. Aichi had, at first, declined the offer, but Shin wouldn't hear of it. He wouldn't let Aichi walk home with such graffiti on his face when there might be several other bullies between Card Capital and his home.

She smiled as the van pulled safely into traffic and drove off. It made her happy that Shin treated Misaki and her friends as if they were his own children; like they were his family.

"I swear to God! I'm going to kill that jerk!"

Izaki's outburst and the thought of children immediately brought Misaki's focus back to the previous conversation, that being the numerous ways they had planned to torture Morikawa for hurting Aichi like he did.

"Aichi was the only one who didn't get annoyed by him. Morikawa was just too idiotic to appreciate that!"

"I couldn't agree more," Misaki added, some uncertainty wavering in her voice. "One thing still confuses me, though… Aichi doesn't seem that hurt. He's letting this whole thing roll off his back. Aichi's a nice guy, but even he has his limits. I know that if something like this happened to someone like you, you'd be devastated."

"You're damn right I- Wait…" Izaki's face drained of color quickly at Misaki's implication, and all of the anger in his voice disappeared just as quickly. "W-Why do you say that? I mean, I'm not-"

"Izaki, you don't need to hide it. We ALL know," Misaki said. She couldn't resist a chuckle when Izaki's face quickly changed from a sickly white to a brilliant, embarrassed red. "Relax. We've known for a while. You were never good at hiding it, to be completely honest. No one has a problem with you being gay. It's the same thing with Aichi. You're both still our friends."

Izaki took a relieved sigh, although it went without saying that he still was not pleased to know that the secret he thought had been keeping so well was common knowledge to everyone else. "Was it really that obvious?"

"The fact that you tolerated Morikawa as much as you did, and for as long as you did, that alone spoke volumes about how you really felt. The way you ogled him when you thought we weren't looking didn't help your case either. Aichi's a different story altogether. He's that way with everyone, always looking for the good in people. The rest of us care about Aichi, so we went along with his idiocy because Aichi did as well. You, on the other hand, have no other explanation as to why you would bite back your tongue when it's obvious that he can get on your nerves. You're taste in men baffles us all, but we can't judge you because you like them."

Izaki was mortified by Misaki's bold explanation on his lack of subtly. He thought that he had done a decent job at hiding his feelings for Morikawa. He tried not to stare at him for prolonged periods. He avoided physical contact with him (save for the occasional strangling position whenever one of them got annoyed with the other). He didn't even mutter to himself how much Morikawa would shower him with affection and compliments like he would his beloved Grade 3 cards. And yet, everyone still managed to figure it out.

Even so, it was nice knowing that he had everyone's support.

"Thanks, Misaki," he mumbled shyly, still embarrassed that his secret had been out for so long.

The front door to Card Capital opened, just as Misaki was about to respond, and in walked someone who immediately cut the warm, accepting atmosphere in the room to shreds, leaving behind nothing but an angry and awkward tension.

Almost instantly, Izaki's embarrassment had been forgotten, and just as quickly replaced with a boiling rage. "Morikawa," he said, a tone dripping in anger.

Morikawa cringed slightly at the angry tone of his former friend. "Oh, Izaki… I didn't know you would be here. Haven't seen you for-"

Morikawa's statement was cut short when Izaki ran across the room and promptly punched the former, quite viciously, in the cheek. Morikawa yelped in pain as the force from the punch sent him to the floor.

"Son of a…" he muttered. He looked up at Izaki. He winced when he saw the look of pure malice that was growing steadily in his eyes. He looked ready to tear Morikawa to shreds.

Izaki took a pretty hard hit at Morikawa, but Misaki felt that she still needed to give one herself. "Did you honestly think we wouldn't find out what you did to Aichi, asshat?"

Morikawa's eyes widened at the mention of Aichi's name. He wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but even he could put two-and-two together and figure out what Misaki was getting at. He didn't think that news of the event would spread so quickly. He made sure to write it so that Aichi's bangs would cover the letters enough to make them indiscernible. Had the pictures spread that far already?

"I can't believe I was ever friends with you!" Izaki yelled profusely, towering over Morikawa and glaring daggers at him. "Aichi was the nicest person that I have ever met in my life, and he was the only one besides me that didn't hate your guts! And you repay him by tagging that slur on his forehead? I can't believe you!"

Morikawa wanted to tell them about how Miwa was blackmailing him with the Spinodriver card, which he _needed_ more than anything. He wanted to tell them about the talk he and Aichi had the night of the party. He wanted to come clean and tell Izaki why he was doing everything. But he couldn't do that, for two reasons: first, it would mean that he was taking orders from someone who's cardfighting skills he felt were inferior to his own, thus damaging his pride, and second, it would break the deal he had with Miwa, which may result in loss of or damage to the card, and he couldn't let that happen.

More importantly… what did Izaki mean by slur? All he wrote was that Aichi was a fag, which Miwa told him was just another word for 'stupid' in English. Morikawa was tempted to call Izaki on that, but even he could tell that he would be adding gas to a flame by insulting Izaki when he was this upset. The best thing to do would be to calm him down and get him to see that it wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be.

"It's not that big of a deal. So what if I said he was a fag? It's not anyone would think it was true."

Izaki's eye twitched, and both Misaki and Morikawa could practically feel the vein in his forehead threatening to burst from the rage he was experiencing. "Aichi declares that he loves Kai in front of his entire school, and you don't think people will agree with it? That Aichi's a fag?"

"I mean, yeah, that was pretty stupid of him. No one would ever be able to control the mind of the great Morikawa. But come on! You've seen his grades. He's better than both of us combined! No one would seriously think he was a fag if they saw that! And so what if people do think he's a fag? I've been called a lot worse."

Immediately, alarm bells went off in Misaki's head. What was Morikawa getting at? What did Aichi's grades have to do with any of this? Sure, Aichi had decent scores, especially for someone at Hitsue, but that was completely irrelevant to what Morikawa did… unless, Morikawa thought otherwise.

Izaki had had enough. His fists, one gripping Morikawa's jacket and the other ready to knock his teeth out, tightened even more so than before, with his fingernails threatening to tear into his own skin. He seemed immune to the pain he was inflicting on himself. "You sick, homophobic, piece of-"

"Hang on!"

Izaki had thrown a punch, directed for Morikawa's nose, but stopped his fist from touching Morikawa by a mere inch when he heard Misaki's outburst. He turned his neck to see Misaki marching over to Morikawa, glaring down at him with her hand on her hip. "What? You know that he deserves everything that's coming to him!"

"I have a few question for Morikawa, and after he answers them, then you can beat the crap out of him as you see fit." Misaki gently lifted Izaki off of Morikawa's shaking body.

Izaki raised an eyebrow at Misaki's statement, pondering to himself what questions she could possibly have for why Morikawa would go out of his way to essentially ruin Aichi's life. Even so, he knew the consequences of challenging Misaki's decisions. He nodded, giving her his blessing to do what she needed.

If it wasn't a complete defamation of his pride, Morikawa would be on his knees thanking Misaki and worshipping her like a god. He settled for silently thanking her in his head and tried not to let his bladder get the better of him after that close call with Izaki.

Misaki hovered over Morikawa with an analyzing stare. "Answer me this, Morikawa… What does the word 'fag' mean to you?"

Izaki's jaw dropped. She wanted to ask him _that_? Had she lost her mind? He obviously knew what it meant if he went and practically tattooed it on Aichi's forehead! What did he-

"It means 'idiot'," he answered bluntly.

Could his jaw go any lower, Izaki was sure that it would soon fall off.

"Th… That's what you think it means?" Izaki forced himself to ask.

Morikawa nodded. "Well yeah, don't you know anything, Izaki? I mean, come on, it's so obvious! And when have you ever known me to be wrong?"

The other two smacked their foreheads, almost in unison. It shouldn't have surprised either of them that he answered as such. Morikawa's English class grades spoke volumes on his comprehension of the language. Even so…

Izaki took personal satisfaction when he heard Morikawa yelp in pain, him having been on the receiving end of Misaki's fist. He clutched the top of his head, gently rubbing the now tender spot and fighting back the urge to show any sign of weakness by crying.

"Would you people stop hitting me?" he yelled. "Don't blame me because you're all a bunch of fags like Aichi! God!"

Izaki had never felt so exasperated in his life, and he felt he was saying a lot given his years of friendship with Morikawa. His idiocy and lack of any sort of English skills had managed to quell Izaki's anger to a dull roar. Even so, he was far from happy. Even if he didn't know it was what he thought, the fact was that Morikawa made fun of Aichi on purpose by tagging his forehead. That action alone was enough to make his actions unforgivable.

Even so, there was this feeling at the back of his mind that there was more to this story than met the eye.

Misaki didn't even phase at Morikawa's insult, knowing now that it wasn't as hurtful as she first thought (and resisted the desire to compare pots to kettles). She stomped across the room and in behind the store counter, furiously typing and clicking at the computer. The boys watched her curiously, trying to figure out what she was doing.

When she had finished, Misaki turned the computer screen around so that the boys (mainly Morikawa) could see what she had done.

"Morikawa, I know this might be a challenge for your tiny brain to overcome, but I'd like you to read this," she demanded, her patience growing increasingly thin with each passing second.

Morikawa raised an eyebrow at her. "And why-"

Her hand colliding with the countertop caused a shriek to be emitted from both of the teenage boys. "Do it right now or, so help me, you're not leaving this store alive or intact!" Her tone of voice, low and deadly serious, paired with her enraged, blood-chilling glare, was enough to send Morikawa diving for the monitor screen.

Izaki tried to look over Morikawa's shoulder to see what Misaki had done. He saw the heading for online dictionary for teenagers, specifically used to educate them about various slurs used in English countries and how many of them could be applied in Japan. Another quick glance highlighted that she had specifically brought up the page on the word 'fag.'

"Let's see, Fag is a derogatory term used to..." Morikawa read aloud, trailing off as he read on.

His eyes must have doubled in size as he read the page several times over. He gripped the sides of the monitor and pressed this face to the screen, giving it one last read. "Oh shit…" he muttered, his face going pale with the sudden severity of his actions coming into light.

"Now, that you know what you put on Aichi's forehead, I'll ask you one more question," Misaki said, glaring daggers at Morikawa as he raised his head from the screen. "Who put you up to it?"

Izaki gasped at Misaki's implication. Could that be true? Could Morikawa have been set up to mess with Aichi?

"You're an ass most of the time, even you must realize that. You're close to unbearable on some days, and that's putting it nicely. Even so, you're not the kind of person to go out of your way to ruin someone's life. At most, you'd just shut them out as best you could. I figured it out when you referenced Aichi's grades to what you called him. The two are completely irrelevant to one another, as you now know, yet you made it seem like they were synonymous with each other. I realized that you didn't know the true meaning of the word, and then I realized that you wouldn't do something as extreme as writing it on someone's forehead, let alone the forehead of the one person that tolerated you."

Izaki stood in awe of Misaki's analytical prowess. If given a year with twice as much information, he was certain that he still wouldn't have been able to put the pieces together as well as she did. There was a reason that she was among the top of her class at Miyaji, and she just validated that reason.

"So I ask you again, who put you up to this?"

Morikawa was now very torn. He wanted so badly to rat Miwa out; if not for Aichi's sake then at least for the sake of revenge for putting him through all of this. Even so, doing so would result in Miwa destroying the Spinodriver card, and he needed it desperately. He was caught between a rock and a hard place as he struggled to bring himself to reach a decision…

The door to Card Capital was practically thrown open, with Kamui dashing in and Miwa following him, not quite as fast as the younger boy. "It was Miwa!"

"Kamui?" Izaki said questioningly. "What are you…"

"Miwa put Morikawa up to everything! He blackmailed him and made him do all that stuff to Aichi." Kamui reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "Look, here's his phone. Check his texts with Morikawa."

Izaki walked up to Kamui and accepted the phone. He turned it on and opened Miwa's conversation with Morikawa. He scrolled through it, seeing various pictures of everything that Morikawa had inflicted upon Aichi. There were at least a dozen pictures, including one depicting Aichi with the backseat of his pants torn off, having been super glued to his seat, one with his face covered in yakisoba noodles that were dripping down and staining his uniform, among various others. At the end of the conversation was a picture of Aichi in his art class, pinned down by some of the larger boys from that class, Morikawa obviously taking the picture. He hadn't taken notice of just the pictures, however. It was the actual back and forth talking that he paid most attention to, and what was said had brought his whole world to a screeching halt.

Throughout the entire conversation, Morikawa had expressed severe dislike and reluctance for what he was doing. He stated multiple times that he wanted no part of it, but Miwa kept threatening to tear up 'the card' at every point of disobedience. It didn't take a genius to see the underlying hatred in Morikawa's furious text messages. He was defending the fact that Aichi was gay, calling Miwa out multiple times for apparently being homophobic of Aichi. What stood out most to Izaki, however, was how Morikawa was seemingly fighting for Aichi, calling him one of his friends, and his 'best student.'

For Morikawa of all people, Izaki knew that those words meant a lot.

Izaki's legs suddenly gave way, overcome with a wave of relief and joy. Morikawa wasn't homophobic at all. He didn't do all that stuff to Aichi on purpose. Miwa had coerced him into it. He should be mad at the blonde right now, but he was too overwhelmed with the feelings of joy and relief to even care at the moment.

He didn't have to feel guilty for his feelings for Morikawa. He didn't have to feel like a backstabbing friend to Aichi because he couldn't get over Morikawa, no matter how hard he tried. Every negative emotion in his body was slowly dispersing, leaving him feeling as if the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

Misaki took the phone from Izaki's weak grip and looked through the conversation. She, too, found that Kamui was correct. Everything within the conversation was proving Miwa guilty of blackmailing Morikawa, from the pictures to the threats and everything in between. She was less than pleased that it took only a single card to sway Morikawa's allegiance to Aichi, but she was more surprised by Miwa's part in all this.

She turned to look at the man currently trying not to look embarrassed for being manipulated so easily. "Morikawa, you're safe for now, but don't think you're off the hook just yet," she stated. "Blackmailed or not, you still did all of that to Aichi for only a card."

Morikawa wanted to shout out 'but I NEED that card!', but even he knew that if he did he would be back in the danger zone, and after everything he forced him to do, Miwa deserved to be on that ride all by himself. So, swallowing his pride once more, he nodded and backed away slowly. He found himself standing beside Izaki, who was still on the floor, unable to find the strength to stand again. He reached a hand out to help him up. "You gonna sit there all day, Izaki?"

Izaki looked up at Morikawa, and immediately his face became flushed. Morikawa was smiling at him. A genuine smile. Not the cocky, arrogant, narcissistic grin that he was all too familiar. It was a warm, comforting smile that he had rarely seen before. He was happy. More specifically, Morikawa was happy to see him. It was almost as if… he missed him.

Shaking, Izaki took hold of Morikawa's hand and was quickly elevated back onto his feet. Once he attempted to let go, Izaki found that Morikawa was still holding on tightly to his hand. He blushed at the implication, but shook it off as just Morikawa's slow brain not noticing that he was still holding on and chose to enjoy it while it lasted, turning his attention to Miwa along with everyone else.

Little did he know, Morikawa was blushing as well.

Everyone glared at Miwa, but Misaki was the first to address the elephant in the room. "Why, Miwa?" she asked bluntly. "I've never known you to be homophobic. Did you just suddenly develop some sort of animosity toward Aichi or what?"

Miwa shoved his hands into his pockets awkwardly. "Well… it's a long story…"

-x~X~x-

Kai kept running, not caring that his lungs were threatening to burst from the excessive exercise that his body, after two weeks of laying around, was not ready for. He needed to keep running. He needed to see Aichi, and if he killed himself to do that then so be it. The pain in his chest was nothing compared to the pain in his heart he would have if he didn't make things right with Aichi.

He had passed Card Capital a while ago. He would have gone in there, but through the glass he saw Izaki punching Morikawa in the face. Aside from intruding on that already tense situation, he could see that Aichi was no longer there. He also didn't see Shin in the store, and the store's van was gone as well, so he theorized that Shin might have driven him home. Luckily he knew the address and how to get there, so he ran.

He didn't know how many people he had shoved out of his way; he was almost certain that he had even run over Kamui at one point. But none of them mattered to him in the slightest. The only person he cared about was Aichi, so if someone wanted to get in his way then they had better look out.

He saw a corner turn coming up, and he knew that Aichi's house was right around that corner. His speed increased, knowing that Aichi was there. He turned the corner, almost losing his balance from his level of acceleration.

He took a moment to gasp as he saw Shin opening the van door for Aichi, letting him jump out. There he was. Aichi was right there in front of him, not twenty feet away. What was he supposed to say, though? Even during the run over, he never bothered to think of anything to say to remedy the situation. At that moment, all Aichi knew was that Kai had abandoned him after he had been forced to confess his feelings for him, leaving him to fend for himself in that school of bullies and douchebags. Aichi may even bare some resentment for him, for all Kai knew… Maybe he even hated-

Kai shook all the negative thoughts from his head. 'Oh, screw it! I didn't come this far to bitch out now!' he thought. Despite his throat dry and ragged, he still managed to scream at the top of his lungs. "Aichi!"

Aichi turned his head slowly, his jaw dropping ever so lightly when he saw who had called out his name. "K-Kai?"

Kai stopped just before Aichi, taking a moment to catch his breath. Hunched over, gasping desperately for air, he still never broke eye contact. He never again wanted to turn away from those beautiful blue iris'. "Aichi… please… we need to… talk…" he asked, still trying to regain some air into his lungs.

Shin took Kai's declaration as a cue to step back and let them have their heart-to-heart. Kai hadn't even noticed that he was there, and Aichi's full attention was him, so it was easy for him to sneak behind the van to give them their privacy but still be ready to intervene if need be.

Aichi remained silent, choosing to stay still and allow Kai the time he needed to reclaim his breath. He wanted to say something, but he was flooded with so many emotions that he was trying his best not to explode at the moment. This was the first time that he had seen Kai since the night he ran away. He still remembered how he felt, waking up from the hypnosis and seeing the look of fear in Kai's eyes. His declaration was the first thing that he remembered upon waking up, but it was too late for his mouth to stop. The confession itself, the fact that he was telling so many people of his feelings for Kai, feelings that he hadn't even fully accepted himself at the time, Aichi believed, was the reason for his abrupt awakening.

Aichi wanted to be mad at Kai for what he did. He could very easily run into his house and lock the door behind him, leaving Kai outside tired, short of breath and with the same familiar feeling of being abandoned when he so desperately needed him…

However, he knew that, out of the whirlpool of emotions that he was going through at the moment, anger was the one emotion that he wasn't feeling.

"What do you… wanna talk about, Kai?" Aichi was apprehensive, even more so than always. He knew that if he said the wrong thing, everything that he'd been doing for the last few weeks would be for naut. He wanted so badly to reach out to Kai, but he also knew that his voice had power over Kai and could sway his emotions unpredictably if he didn't speak cautiously.

Kai took a few final breathes, making a mental note to get back into shape after this whole thing had ended. "Aichi… I wanna apologize…" he said. After everything that he caused Aichi, he should have thrown himself at Aichi's feet, begging forgiveness and for Aichi to allow him the pleasure and privilege of being his one and only lover, promising to be the one who would protect him against the world if it opposed him.

But as he imagined himself doing such a romantic, sentimental gesture… he almost vomited.

Not only was it incredibly embarrassing just to picture, but he also knew that Aichi didn't want him to degrade himself for the sake of forgiveness. Aichi wasn't the kind of person that wanted to see other people suffering after they hurt him. That was why he held no resentment for Ren after steering him down the wrong path with his PSYqualia and making him abandon the Royal Paladin clan. Aichi liked to see people realize their mistakes and then work to correct them. And that was exactly what he planned to do.

"You know… that I'm not a mushy, emotional person. I'm not gonna drop to my knees and beg you to forgive me, even though you… definitely deserve it."

Aichi gave a nod of acknowledgment. Never had the thought of Kai humiliating himself to make amends crossed the bluenette's mind. Of course, he wanted an apology all the same, and to know that it was sincere, but he would never want to punish Kai for following his instinct. He owed him that at least.

Spontaneously, Kai had grabbed both of Aichi's hands and clasped them together in his own. The action brought about a blush on both of their faces, locking their eyes together in an ever-present gaze. "But Aichi, don't think for a damned second that I'm not sorry for what I did, or that you're not important to me. Abandoning was and will always be the biggest regret of my life, Aichi. When you said that you loved me, I… I was terrified. I was confused. I had a million things running through my mind and I needed to get out of there for me to figure my feelings out. I wanted to turn around, but I knew from the second I turned my back that I must have broken your heart and I… I couldn't handle owning up to that. I didn't want to see you cry, and I… didn't want you to see me cry either."

Aichi's blush grew furiously as Kai threw his arms around his neck, feeling the heat of Kai's body radiating onto him. He could feel Kai's chest still rising and falling, as well as the sweat still dripping from his hair. But that all seemed moot when compared to Kai's words racing through his mind. "Y-You… you cried for me?"

Kai nodded, which Aichi felt on his neck. "For an hour. That was the first time… in a long time." The position, Kai kneeling down just slightly enough to rest his chin on Aichi's shoulder, felt incredibly awkward to the former. He was uncomfortable with regular human contact, even with Miwa, but he still refused to let go. "Aichi… I'm sorry that I tried to cut you out of my life. That was unfair to you. I only did it because I wanted you to get over me and move onto someone else."

Aichi placed his loose hands on Kai's chest and pushed him away. He shook his head before locking eyes with him. "But Kai… I don't want anyone else. I don't think I ever have, or ever will. I love Toshiki Kai; that is never going to change. You were my first friend, and you're still my friend now. When the whole world hated me and pushed me down, you pulled me back up." Aichi reached into his uniform pocket, feeling for his deck box, and sliding out the top card. He held it out, and Kai nearly gasped.

"…Blaster Blade."

Aichi nodded. "This card is a reminder of how much strength you gave me on that day. Whenever I look at it, I remember that boy that tried to be my friend, when my entire school wanted me to crawl in a hole and die. You're the reason I'm where I am today. This whole ordeal was only a setback in my eyes. I knew that you needed time to figure out what you wanted. Izaki helped me realize that."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Izaki? …the idiot's lapdog?"

Aichi chuckled softly. "More or less. When you ran out of the gym that night, I was… a complete wreck. I thought at first that you were homophobic or something, and me being forced to say that I loved you had caused you to hate me; fear me even." Kai's grip on Aichi's arms tightened, and that, along with the sudden hurt expression that was forming across his face, prompting the former to continue quickly. "B-But, I know that's not true now! Izaki, he… he held me tightly and assured me that everyone else was ok with me being gay. Misaki, Kamui, Morikawa… even you. You were just so shocked by my confession that you didn't know what to think. He even told me… that I wasn't 'alone.'"

Kai could see that Aichi didn't want to elaborate on the 'alone' part, but given Izaki's constant tolerance of Morikawa's idiocy (and the time Izaki got a series of nosebleeds on the day that Morikawa agreed to streak around town in his underwear, curtesy of Miwa), it wasn't hard to guess what it meant. It was even more clear that the brunette wasn't ok with others knowing about it, which made Kai feel a need to play along.

"I see... and then what happened?"

"Well, once Izaki calmed me down… then Morikawa came up and started acting really weird," Aichi explained, elaborating further when he saw Kai cock an eyebrow at him, "even for him."

"How so?"

"Well…"

~x-X-x~

Cliffhangers are truly the worst, aren't they? They just leave you feeling agitated and feeling like you wanna rip your device in half because you have no idea what's gonna happen next… But it's fairly amusing to create them, hehehe.

I was going to continue into a flashback with Aichi, Izaki and Morikawa, but I figured that breaking it into two chapters would create more suspense and clear everything up in one final chapter.

Next chapter should be the finale. I may do a few more bonus chapters… but I can't believe I'm almost done torturing Aichi-chan! I don't know what I'm gonna do if I can't humiliate or emotionally manipulate our precious little blueberry…

Oh, right, I have a nursing career to start… yeah, that'll keep me busy. And it'll be easier to do once I plant that blueberry in the arms of CFV's biggest Tsundere (which I can't WAIT to write about!).

Happy New Year everybody! Let's all enjoy Kaichi well into 2017 and forever after! I'll get the next chapter up and running as soon as I can! No more 1st person perspectives, all 3rd.


	14. Chapter 14) Aichi Sendou

OMG, it's (nearly my) summer vacation! Thank god! Now I can write fluffy, angst-filled yaoi fanfictions!

I would like to dedicate this chapter to my loving boyfriend, Tim. We were in such a weird place for the longest time, and I really didn't understand it at all, but hearing you say that you love me made everything crystal clear for me. So thank you, Tim, I love you too! You're the love of my life and I hope I get to say that you every day of my life!

Anywho, enough about my (very good) love life. On to everyone's Vanguard OTP! Chapter 14 is brought to you by the commanding knight of the Royal Paladin, who's skill with his (blaster) blade will be revered for generations to come, Aichi Sendou!

-x~X~x-

I've never felt so humiliated. Made fun of by everyone, laughed off the stage, forced to hide in the janitors closet just so I could cry it all out. I didn't want my friends to see me crying, I didn't want my classmates to see me, and I didn't want Kai to see me.

Kai… I'm so sorry that I got you involved in this mess of a party. I shouldn't have pushed you to come. This whole mess could have been avoided if I had just left you be. I can't blame you for running off like you did. I mean, how could I? Having your friend come out and say that they love you in front of so many people, your male friend at that. I'd been thrown through a loop too if I were in his position.

Still… that doesn't make it any less painful, watching you run away from me. Even after you promised to be my friend, no matter what.

As Izaki held me tightly and stroked my hair, trying in vain to calm me down, I continued to sniffle and think about ways this could have been avoided. I never meant to let Kai know how I felt, how I think of him every morning when I wake up, and how I'm thinking of him throughout the day and up until I fall asleep, every single day. I'm so appreciative of Kai, for everything he's done for me that's made my life so enjoyable (excluding recent events), and somewhere along the way that appreciation turned into love.

I… I love Toshiki Kai. He's the reason I wake up in the morning. I wake up to his light, no matter how much he tries to hide it; I see it peak through and shine down, illuminating me from the shadows in my life.

I'm still fuzzy on what happened on that stage. I don't know how much I blabbed or said or how I acted. The last thing I remember is Miss Mystery asking me who I loved, and even though I didn't want to say it, the trance she put on me was too strong. I resisted as best I could, but it proved pointless and I couldn't keep my mouth from shouting out my love for Toshi-…

…Kai. My love for Kai. After chasing him away like that, I felt like I lost the right to call him by first name, even if it's only to myself.

I guess I can just be grateful that everything went well up until then. Kamui and Misaki had a great time from what I saw. Kai won the Vanguard tournament (not much of a surprise), and a pretty big gift card on top of it, and my night with him wasn't nearly as awkward as I thought it would be. I think he enjoyed himself, honestly. If nothing else, he wanted to be here with me. Otherwise, he would have left with Kou Amegakure. That was his first and best opportunity to leave…

Kou… That must have been who set me up. How, out of the dozens of kids in that gymnasium, I was the one who got picked to make an idiot out of myself. If I had to guess, I'd say that the hypnotist was also in on it and wanted to see me suffer too. Maybe it was a friend of Kou's…

Oh well. There's really nothing I can do about it anymore. She got her revenge. My life at school will go back to how it used to be, where no one wants to talk to me; the awkward, shy, easy to pick on, and now gay boy that no one wants to talk to or be around. I may get a few beatings here and there. Nothing I'm not used to. Although, the break from it all was nice…

I sigh to myself, nudging Izaki to let me go. He lets go frantically and starts checking me over, seeing if I'm ready to burst into tears again, but I think I'm all cried out.

"Thank you, Izaki," I say. "I needed that. I appreciate you lending me a shoulder."

Izaki smiles briefly, apparently relaxed because I've calmed down. "No problem!" he says. "You know any of us would have helped you out. I was just the first one to find you."

"Even so, knowing I'm… not 'alone' is a huge relief."

Izaki's face slowly began to flush at the implications behind my words. He knew that I was referring to his coming out to me. Not only that… he told me who he loves. Personally, I'm a bit surprised by his confession. I suspected him a few times, but I never thought he might be in love with Morikawa. They have such a weird relationship as is, let alone the idea of either of them being in love. Still, I'm happy that Izaki's found someone who he loves. I can only hope that Morikawa either feels the same way, or comes to realize it.

I jump when I hear the door slamming open and see Morikawa marching in…

-x~X~x-

"After that, Morikawa just went crazy," I say to Kai. He had managed to catch his breath somewhere along the way in my story, but he could not be paying closer attention through it all. "He started belittling me, calling me 'sick' and the like, and throwing every insult in the book my way. And Izaki… he just watched. He watched as the guy that he loved told him, indirectly, that he was 'twisted' and 'nasty' and… that he deserved what happened to me."

A brief flash of anger shot through Kai's eyes. It was sharper than his simple 'I'm annoyed by you' glare, the one he threw at Miwa and Morikawa regularly. It was different.

But it faded quickly. His eyebrow was raised curiously, as if trying to figure something out. "Go on," he says. "You're telling me how Izaki interpreted that situation, but how did you see it? How did Morikawa's insults look to you?"

I smiled. "Like every word he was saying was hurting him," I reply. "As he kept throwing his slurs at me, as Izaki's love for Morikawa quickly turned to anger, all I could see from Morikawa was an almost unbearable pain. None of what he said was true, I could tell. He didn't believe in a single word he was saying. I could only guess that someone was using him to upset me, and they were doing it by giving Morikawa some sort of ultimatum. I figured that this person wanted to see me upset, so when Morikawa went to take my picture… I faked it. I put on the most convincing 'I'm sad' face I could, but I guess it wasn't good enough. Whoever it was that put Morikawa up to it, they weren't satisfied with just seeing me upset… they wanted to see me cry."

"How do you know all this?" Kai asked.

"…because Morikawa told me."

-x~X~x-

Izaki had just dropped me off at my house. He promised me that he would do his best to protect me from whatever Morikawa had planned, hoping to make my life somewhat tolerable after tonight. I thanked him profusely and told him that I would talk to him tomorrow; that I needed to go to bed and rest.

After I close the door and make sure Izaki had left, I immediately pull out my cell phone and walk up to my room. There's only one person who has all the answers at the moment, and I need to talk to him.

The phone rings as I wait and hope that Morikawa would answer my call. I need to see if my hunch was correct. If Morikawa is really being manipulated, I need to help him. My problems are of no concern to me if one of my friends is hurting.

After a while, someone answers the phone. _"Aichi?"_ It's Morikawa.

"Hey, Morikawa," I say.

 _"Listen man, I'm so-… sor…"_ His voice strains as he tries to find the right words. I think he's trying to apologize… something I think everyone is aware that he has little experience in… Oh, Morikawa… _"Oh screw it! Look, someone's after you. The homophobic ass is using me to make your life hell, and they won't stop until they make you cry!"_

I nod. "I figured as much," I say. "I'm not gonna ask you who it is, because I'm sure that this person would hold it against you if they found out." And also, if it's Kai… I really don't want to know.

 _"You really are the best student I ever had. You're a good person, my child! I taught you well!"_ I can hear him sniffling a few times over the phone. _"So, what's the plan? Do you know how you'll get out of this? I figure we can shove you on a train and get you out of the city for a few weeks for this whole thing to die down."_ …I really hoped that he was joking.

"I-I don't think we need to go to that extreme," I said. "I have a plan, but I don't know if you'll agree to it..."

 _"Try me. When have you ever known me to back down?"_

I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to say. "…I need you to make my life miserable."

-x~X~x-

"I told Morikawa that the only way to appease whoever wanted me to suffer was to actually make me suffer. Give him what he wants. He tried to disagree with me, but I explained that there was no other way to indirectly get the other person to stop, and then we would both be free from it all. So, for the last few weeks, Morikawa's been doing everything possible to make me cry, and I've been trying above and beyond to force myself to cry, but nothing's worked until today."

I've been watching Kai nod continuously at my explanations. I don't know if he follows my logic or if he's just waiting for me to stop spewing nonsense from my mouth. His expression is as neutral as ever. I can't tell what he's thinking.

"I… I wasn't expecting what happened today. Maybe that's why it got me to cry. I had a bunch of guys surrounding me, pinning me to the ground, and I had no idea what was going on. The fear and anxiety finally broke me down and… I cried. And Morikawa was there to get a picture. I haven't heard anything from Morikawa yet, so I don't know if-"

"I love you."

I lost my breath for a brief moment, unable to speak due to sheer shock. I thought that I was hearing things. I thought that there was no way I could have heard that right. There was no way that Kai would say he loves me. I'm not that lucky.

I was about to ask Kai to repeat what he said, but he had suddenly grabbed me and pulled me into a tight embrace, and my whole body went numb. "Aichi… I don't know what kind of crazy person would be stupid enough to make himself the martyr for two weeks of hell, but that's the kind of crazy I want in my life; I need in my life. You care about the people that others don't like, even at your own expense. How can I not love someone like that?"

"But, Kai-"

"Toshiki," he interrupted. "I told you to call me Toshiki from now on."

"I… wasn't sure after everything that happened." As I spoke, I felt my hands grip the back of his jacket. Feeling him pressed so close to me, I never wanted it to end. "T-… Toshiki, I love you… and I want to be with you… a-as a couple…" Even after his confession, I felt a need to restate my own feeling.

"I know."

I start to panic when Toshiki pulled away from our tender embrace, terrified I might have gotten my hopes up again, but it faded away when he shifts his hands to grip around my waist. The way he looked at me, his expression was so soft, and warm; relaxed even. His eyes looked into mine with the kind of longing and loving gaze I'd always dreamt about. It looked so foreign to me, seeing him look so content and happy. As he leaned into me, his eyes slowing closing shut, and a tint of pink in his cheeks, while my face was growing red, that was when I realized:

…I made him content and happy.

-x~X~x-

I am so sorry that it took so long to update this story! W

I've been so busy, trying to get my career off the ground in school, and dealing with all kinds of personal crap, I've only ever had minutes – I'm not kidding, MINUTES! – at a time to touch on it here and there. I only managed to finish the ending of this chapter while I was in first aid, writing on the back of a hand-out.

Sad to say, I failed one of my courses and I have to go back in a year to do it again, but I'm looking up! I'll have plenty of time to get at this! I haven't forgotten you guys, or my boys Aichi and Toshiki. They deserve their happy ending!

That's it for the main story chapters, but I'm hoping to get a few more bonus chapters done. For right now though, I'll see you guys later!


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